Torn
by Jyo-Chan
Summary: Some bad words but there's some drama in it too...Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…SakuxGaa, SakuxNeji, SakuxSasu. Completed...
1. Hidden strength

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Ever since her parents died, her life has been nothing but an emotional blur. Every morning she would wake up with red and swollen eyes because she had cried the night before. And every night she would cry herself off to sleep.

If you thought that she was pathetic before, how would you think of her now?

She was a wreck.

She used to be pretty and weak, but now she's just plain weak. She couldn't be bothered making herself look pretty anymore. Not even for the sake of looking good in front of her beloved Sasuke.

Sometimes she would be seen walking aimlessly around the village with the neutral face and nothing more or less. Ino would always try to make her smile but always failed. Lee would attempt to make her happy too but like Ino, he was unable to make her smile. As much as Naruto hated her punching him on the head, he hated to see her miserable even more. Sasuke never did anything.

Tsunade felt sorry for her, having lost both her parents due to an unknown disease. But those two were the only casualties. Tsunade had refused to train her because of the way she was now. She wouldn't be able to handle the pressure that she will make her go through.

How long has it been since she last saw her parents? A week maybe? Two…? It's actually been almost a month since. Their funeral was simple, nothing extravagant. She had cried throughout the whole entire ceremony but it was unnoticeable seeing as it was raining at the same time. But her stifled sobs could be heard.

Everybody she knew came. There was Ino's parents and Ino herself. All her friends and their own parents. Thinking about parents made her cry a bit more.

It was weird though…even Sasuke came even though he had never known her parents. Perhaps out of respect then. Naruto came too, even though he never had parents to begin with but he was there to perhaps make her feel better.

She's not alone.

Come to think of it, she hasn't spoken a word since their departure. Not a single sound apart from sobs. Tsunade would still let her team do missions. Simple missions that require very little thinking and effort. It belittled her ability but then again she didn't mind. She didn't care anymore.

She now lives in the house alone. It was slightly dusty since the only room she ever really uses is her own and the bathroom. She hardly ever eats anymore due to depression.

Most people pig out when they're depressed but she doesn't. She just sits in her room and cries herself to sleep.

On the days when they meet up for training, Kakashi-sensei would sometimes let her stay and watch. Maybe let her spar with Naruto or himself. But never with Sasuke since he would only want to spar with Naruto or himself. Sometimes he would let her go home or give her a break from training. She's had so many breaks already, she was getting weaker and weaker.

One day however, Tsunade asked her to stop by the office.

Was she gonna let her train to be a medic-nin? Or was it something else?

It was definitely something else, Tsunade took her off team seven for now and placed her with two other people. Who they were she had no idea, Tsunade told her to come back tomorrow morning to meet them.

She couldn't care less, being moved away from her beloved Sasuke. It would do good for the whole of team seven. She was only a burden to them anyways. She couldn't do the missions properly and always ended up needing to be saved by Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi-sensei.

However, everything changed the next day.

It was then, they came into her life. At first, she was seen as a burden. Nothing more than a nuisance. Why would Tsunade put such a weakling into a team of strong ninjas? She couldn't comprehend it.

She had spent less than a week with them and she proved to be very weak compared to them. They looked down on her but it was their mission to make her stronger.

He couldn't go against his fate.

He had to do it for the sake of the treaty.

She did it, to change herself perhaps.

"Crying won't solve anything…It was fate that your parents died. Get over it…" the one they called the Hyuuga Prodigy spoke up. His white eyes, as if they could see right through your soul.

"Death is inevitable…" the red haired sand-nin spoke. The one with the black rimmed eyes, the love tattoo on his forehead and the pale green mesmerizing yet unpleasant eyes.

Both of them were strong and both of them she feared.

She had tried to lay a punch on the red head but the sand always blocked it. She tried to use a technique on the Hyuuga Prodigy, but he always blocked her chakra flow. Indeed she was weak, but they had to make her strong. It was their mission. Nothing more.

* * *

It's been two months since she was moved away from team seven, and now she was placed back, only to do missions, she trained with the other two instead.

At first, Neji and Gaara saw her as a burden, but their thoughts about her eventually changed. They grew closer, almost like a team of their own.

Tsunade assigned the new team seven to a B Ranked mission. Kakashi knew that Sakura has changed and he had faith in her new abilities but was still slightly worried about her.

She was however, brimming with new life now. She was back to her old self. Not as cheerful as before but still cheerful. If she was pretending, then her training sessions with both Hyuuga and the sand-nin had paid off.

* * *

They were surrounded by half a platoon of sound-nins, Naruto was unconscious on the floor and Kakashi was fighting with two other ninjas of Jounin level or higher. Sasuke was just barely awake, he held onto his bloody arm and Sakura stood a few paces in front of him with her back facing him.

"Sakura! Run! Get away from here!" he shouted out at her, clutching harder at his arm but she paid no attention to him.

The two sound-nins smirked at her, and raced forward, both wielding a kunai in each hand. One made an attempt to slash her on the face but she dodged and the other tried to stab her, again she dodged.

She fell backwards doing a few somersaults until she was far enough from them but within range of her next technique. She performed several seals with speed Sasuke thought she never had.

"Suiton! Suiryuudan no jutsu!" as soon as she called out the technique, a water dragon appeared out of no where and surged forward to their targets.

'No way! She's strong enough to be able to conjure a water dragon from no where!' he thought as he continued to watch her fight.

Both ninjas were stupefied at her strength and too paralyzed to doge the technique. The water dragon rushed towards them and knocked them both to the ground. They slowly got to their feet analyzing her.

"Don't underestimate me…" she smirked at them and the sound-nins looked insulted and made another attempt to harm her in some way. One of them tried to punch her in the face but a shield of sand came up to protect her.

'What? Is Gaara near by?' Sasuke looked around for the said ninja but couldn't find him or sense him.

It was then Sakura ran up to them landing a few gentle blows to their chest. They smirked at her but then doubled over in pain, coughing up blood.

'What the…that looks like a technique used by that Hyuuga…' he continued to watch her, feeling his left hand grow numb.

She walked up to them and jabbed their necks with two fingers and they both got knocked out.

'What has she been doing these past two months?' he continued to stare at her but felt his eyelids grow heavier and the last thing he saw was a blur of sand and long black hair tied in a ponytail.

'Are they…' he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Hospitals, Ramen and a Funny looking vas...

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

All of them except Sakura woke up in the hospital room. The white ceiling, the white walls, the beds, the curtains, even the floor. It was too god-damned white.

Kakashi was the first of the three to wake up then Naruto and lastly Sasuke.

"Hey! You're up." Naruto grinned at Sasuke.

"Shut up dobe." He glared at Naruto which returned it fully.

"Sasuke-Baka…" they continued to glare at each other until Kakashi sighed.

"I will inform Tsunade-Sama about the mission…See you tomorrow for training…" Kakashi walked over to the cupboard and took out his clothes. He went into the bathroom and never came back out, but they could smell the smoke so they both assumed that he used a technique to get himself out of here.

"I'm leaving…" Sasuke got out of bed and Naruto followed suit, it was then Sakura came into the room.

"Morning! Good to see you guys awake ne? Now what will I do with these flowers." she smiled at them and Naruto was happy to see her unharmed by the souns-nins.

"Sakura-Chan! I'm glad to see that you're not hurt by those sound bastards. I'm sorry I couldn't help you but I knew you could do it!" Naruto talked excitedly waving his arms around his head.

"Thanks Naruto. Why don't we all go get some ramen ne?" As soon as he heard the word ramen, Naruto rushed to the bathroom with his clothes.

"Silly Naruto…" she sighed at her team-mates behavior, she turned to see Sasuke staring at her.

"Neh Sasuke…Daijobu?" (A/N: Daijobu means, are you ok?) she cocked her head in a cute way but Sasuke was unfazed by this.

"Fine…" he replied in a monotonous voice but still staring at her intently.

"That's good." She was still holding onto the flowers and smiling at him.

"Sakura…" he started but was cut off by Naruto coming out of the bathroom.

"Sasuke! Hurry up I wanna get some ramen!" Naruto looked excited and impatient at the same time. Sasuke growled having being interrupted by him.

"I'm not hungry…" he stalked off and locked the door to the bathroom.

"Oh wells…Let's go Sakura-Chan!" he skipped out of the room while Sakura followed behind him.

* * *

You could hear his slurps from a block away without even trying. Naruto ate his ramen noisily while Sakura just continued to eat hers with an occasional slurp here and there.

"Naruto, don't eat so fast. You might get a stomach ache." Sakura gave him a small smile.

"Ah sorry Sakura-Chan." He ate slower but he was already on his fifth bowl and Sakura was only half-way through her first.

"Ne Sakura-Chan! How did you do it?" he polished up his bowl and rubbed his stomach feeling satisfied for now.

"Hm? Oh that. Well…I used a few techniques and dodged their attacks every now and then. You shouldn't have slept Naruto." She smiled again and continued to eat her ramen.

"I couldn't help it Sakura-Chan…He knocked me on the head!" he scratched the back of his head and smiled whole-heartedly at her.

"Don't worry Naruto. I understand. Besides, it was just a normal fight." She finished her ramen and paid for herself and Naruto as well.

"Eh! You didn't have to do that Sakura-Chan! Here let me pay you back!" he took out his frog pouch but Sakura stopped him.

"It's ok Naruto. Don't worry about it. Think of it as the times I didn't go to eat ramen with you." She picked up the flowers that were on the chair beside her while Naruto looked very guilty.

"See ya Naruto!" she waved to him and walked off.

"Bye Sakura-Chan! Thank you!" he waved to her retreating back and even though she couldn't see him waving to her, she gave a goodbye signal.

"You're stronger now, Sakura-Chan. I'm happy for you." He was about to walk away when Sasuke stopped him.

"What do you want Sasuke-Baka…" he glared at him half-heartedly.

"We need to talk…it's about Sakura…" Naruto's eyes widened when Sasuke said her name and turned around to try to find her but she was already gone into the distance.

"What about her…?" he looked confused and determined at the same time.

"Haven't you noticed anything different about her?"

"Yea, she's stronger now. So what?" Naruto got more confused as to why Sasuke would ask him that question.

"It's the technique that she uses…"

"So? I was knocked out so I didn't see what kind of techniques she used Sasuke-Baka…" Naruto got annoyed at Sasuke.

"She used sand to protect her from a punch from the sound-nin…like Gaara did." Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto with furrowed brows.

"…and?" making a gesture for Sasuke to continue.

"And she hit them the way the Hyuuga's do it. Their gentle blows…remember when you fought Neji at the chounin exams?" Sasuke never saw Naruto fight with Neji but had a pretty good idea as to what the prodigy would use against Naruto.

"Your…point?" still not fully understanding.

"Do you think that she might be training with them?" Naruto's eyes shot wide open as realization dawned on him.

"NO WAY!"

* * *

Outside her front door, Sakura sneezed.

"Looks like someone misses me. Hehe" (A/N: it's a Japanese thing. You end up sneezing involuntarily when someone talks about you.)

She pulled out the keys to her house and with a click, the door opened. She dumped her keys into a small bowl and placed the flowers on the kitchen counter. She looked through cupboards looking for a vase for the flowers and eventually found a purple odd shaped one.

"It looks so funny…Why did mum buy this?" she shrugged it off and went over to the flowers. Taking off the wrapping paper. She took the vase to the sink and filled it up half way with water and put the flowers in one by one. Practicing her Ikebana skills. (A/N: Ikebana means flower arranging…) Once she was done she smiled at her masterpiece, then she began to prepare three separate Obentos for the picnic tomorrow. (A/N: Obento means lunch…)


	3. A Grain of Rice

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

"Ohayo!" both Gaara and Neji turned around to see Sakura running up to them with a picnic basket in hand.

"Morning…" Neji greeted her.

"What's that for?" Gaara asked her without showing much emotion in his voice.

"Oh this? I thought that it would be nice if I prepare a picnic for us. You know! To celebrate our third month together!" She smiled brightly at them and they looked at each other and sighed.

"Whatever…" Neji closed his eyes.

"Hn…" Gaara smirked.

"Great!" she took out the blanket and laid it out on the grass. She took off her sandals and sat in the middle and gestured for the other two to join her. Reluctantly, they followed suit taking off their sandals and sitting on either side of her.

"Ok! Here's your obento!" she took out both of their lunches and handed it to them along with a pair of chopsticks.

"There's onigiri in there too if you like!" (A/N: Onigiri means rice ball…I like mine when they're triangular shaped!) she took one out and bit into it when heard someone shout out her name.

* * *

"Sakura!" Sasuke called out her name jumping into the training grounds, expecting to see a bloody field with a bloody Sakura on the floor only to find her having a picnic. Sakura turned around with an Onigiri in her mouth. Neji and Gaara did the same thing but turned around again shortly after seeing whoever disturbed their little picnic.

"What the…" he was expecting something other than a picnic definitely, and then Naruto came shortly after.

"Mou…Sasuke-Baka…did we really have to run after our training session?" he growled at Sasuke and saw his shocked face.

"Hey…What's wrong?" Naruto asked him but all he did was point at them.

He was slightly afraid of what he might see…His Sakura-Chan bleeding to death on the floor or something else…

"Hey! We're having a picnic!" she waved at them.

"NANI!" Naruto's jaw could've hit the floor but that was humanly impossible.

"P-picnic?" Sasuke stood there with a seemingly shocked face.

"You guys wanna join us?" she continued to wave on them biting into her onigiri again.

"Sure!" Naruto ran up to them and took of his sandals sitting himself right in front of Sakura. Sasuke was still in a state of shock.

"Sasuke! Wanna join us?" she asked smiling politely at him.

"…no…" he resumed his cool, collected appearance and walked off.

"What a weird guy…sigh…" she shook her head.

"Ano sa, ano sa! What do I get Sakura-Chan?" he asked her with a grin plastered to his face.

"Oh!" she took out her obento and handed it over to Naruto.

"Here ya go!" she handed him a pair of chopsticks as well.

"Itadakimasu!" and he dug into his food. (A/N: meaning…Thank you for the food!")

"Hm! You're cooking is so good Sakura-Chan!" he said her name in a sing-song style.

"Thanks Naruto!" she smiled at him again and Neji noticed a stray grain of rice on her face.

"Sakura…" he looked at her with eyes that almost seem soft.

"What is it Neji-Kun?" she tilted her head to the side in a cute manner.

He came forward a little bit, his hand pressed onto her face and neck. She didn't flinch at his touch. He licked off the grain of rice on her face and she blushed. He acted on impulse.

"Thank you for the food Sakura. I'll see you tomorrow then." He blushed a little bit, putting on his sandals and walked off.

"Hey! Take this too!" Sakura took out an onigiri and tossed it at him which he caught with ease.

"Thanks." He turned around and walked off briskly.

"Woah…that was weird." Naruto spoke up and scratched his head.

Gaara stared at Neji's retreating figure and went back to eating.

Sakura stared at Neji's Obento and it was empty.

"Wow. He's a fast eater." She sweat-dropped. 'Kinda like Sasuke when we went on a mission to the country of Wave.' (A/N: it was in one of the episodes of Naruto…somewhere between 1 and 19…)

* * *

Naruto finished up his lunch and thanked Sakura for the food. He and Gaara walked off engaging in a very animated conversation, which was mainly one sided.

She was packing away the lunch boxes when someone approached her from behind. The chakra signature was very familiar and she instantly blushed.

"Hi Neji-Kun! What's up?" she was now folding up the blanket and putting it into the basket.

"Nothing." His cheeks were still stained with a faint pinkish color.

"Hm…" she put on her sandals and stood up holding onto the basket.

"I'll see you for training tomorrow then?" she smiled at him still blushing a little bit.

"Ah…I'll walk you home." He grabbed the basket for her and started to walk to the direction of her house.

"Ok." She began to fall into step along with Neji.

* * *

They both walked in a comfortable silence, occasionally exchanging words every now and then while Sakura hummed a tune most of the time.

"I'm sorry about before." Neji didn't look at her but continued to look straight ahead.

"Don't worry about it. It was just an accident right?" she smiled at him and tilted her head to the side.

"Yea…" both of them stopped at the footpath that led to her house.

"Well…See ya tomorrow." She waved at him and he held out the basket for her. She took it and walked down her footpath.

"Bye." Neji looked at her and walked off somewhere else other than his home.


	4. Training on a Windy Day

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

"What the hell was that for Sasuke-Baka!" Naruto gingerly rubbed his head as he watched Sasuke walk into the distance of the next training field.

"…" Sasuke walked off not paying any attention to Naruto's mumblings.

"Baka…At least tell me where you're going! Geez! Punch me on the head for mentioning Sakura's picnic…" Naruto continued to rub on his head as he slowly followed Sasuke to wherever he went.

'Sakura…What were you doing with those two…' Sasuke thought to himself unaware that he looked pretty intimidating at that moment.

"Sasuke…Chill. You look like you wanna kill someone." Sasuke stared at him and Naruto held up his hands in defense and started laughing awkwardly.

"Shut…up Naruto…" Sasuke spoke through clenched teeth.

"Mou…Whatever…" Naruto got annoyed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

* * *

She dodged to her left elegantly, almost like dancing. Performing hand seals of the tiger, rabbit, rat and so forth.

"Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!" she yelled out and breathed in as much as she could take and jets of chakra infused fire streamed out.

The red head summoned up his sand to block the fire but clear spurts of something appeared on his side of the sand.

'What the!' his eyes widened and he dodged out of the way. She smirked at him.

"I love it when people underestimate me. It's so fun…but it gets annoying after a while…" she performed another series of techniques unaware that another person came up behind her.

His chakra infused palm hit her back and she fell forwards. He smirked at her but it disappeared when she vanished, only to be replaced by a chunk of wood. He sensed something behind him but turned around too late when a gust of wind blew him away. He skidded on the ground, his hands digging into the earth, stopping right beside the red haired sand-nin.

There she stood on the far side of their training field. She was holding up two miniature fans.

"Let me try again…Wind Element! Dance of the Wind Blades!" her hands came forward and a huge gust of wind followed blowing hard at the two male nins.

They shielded their eyes, trying to block out the wind and to hold onto their position at the same time.

Neji activated his Byakugan and searched around looking for her technique's weak spot. He couldn't find any, it was flawless. Gaara tried to summon up his sand but it got blown into the wind.

'Not good…' they both thought at the same time. When they felt the wind die down a little bit, they raced into her direction but she wasn't there.

They turned their backs to each other, both of them in the center of the field looking around for a sign of the pink haired girl. Neji searched around with his Byakugan while Gaara used his keen sense of hearing.

Gaara felt a sudden breeze pass right by him and Neji thought he saw pink somewhere.

Moments of silence…

Another flash of pink and a small flurry of wind. They couldn't locate her until…

'There…' they turned at the same time (Neji to the right and Gaara to the left) to see her charge right at them. Using her fans to slash them the way she would with her kunai. Sharp metallic bits stuck out at the ends and she moved forward swiftly dodging his palm and his sand. As if dancing with the wind.

She ran and jumped up, landing gracefully past them. The wind blew gently at them and several cuts could be seen from their arms and clothes but the distinct cut was on their faces.

Blood trickled down Neji's cheeks and dripped off his chin.

"This has been a productive day, don't you think?" she turned around and smiled at them.

"…not bad…" Neji spoke still looking somewhat shocked at her progress.

Most of the time, she would only be able to land a few blows before Gaara's sand would attack her and execute a few techniques before Neji would block her chakra flow. This time, she was more prepared, almost as if she had been sparring without them for a month. But the last time they trained together was only two days ago. How could she have improved so much in just a little over two days?

She smiled at them, folding up her fans and tucking them into her pouch.

"You guys ok? Didn't hurt you too much did I?" she looked at Gaara. His face had been cut but that was just his armor of sand and not actual skin.

"…I don't get hurt…easily…" his sand hovered in front of him and covered up the score on his face.

"That's good…" she smiled at Gaara then looked over at her other training partner.

"Ah Neji! You're bleeding!" she took out her handkerchief and started wiping off the blood on his face.

His eyes grew softer. Neji watched her as she carefully wiped the blood of his face, he felt comfortable at her touch. His hand reached up to her hand and stopped her from whatever she was doing.

Her eyes showed compassion, kindness. Both something he had never experienced much before.

He lowered her hand and he leaned in forward slightly, she didn't move.

His lips were just an inch away when Gaara made an abrupt movement, causing him to stop and let go of her hand. Gaara glared at Neji from the corner of his eye and moved off.

'What's wrong with Gaara-Kun?' she watched Gaara walk away from the training ground. It was suddenly she heard the bushes rustle and turned into that direction as well as Neji.

* * *

'Geez! Which training ground would they be on!' Sasuke was now running around the whole of Konoha searching for Sakura and to see if she is training with who he thinks she's training with. Naruto was following behind a few paces away.

"Sasuke-Baka! Tell me where we're going!" Sasuke ignored him.

"Baka! Hey! I'M TALKING TO YOU HERE!" Naruto sped up and tried to punch him but missed.

"I didn't ask you to follow me dope!" Sasuke ran faster and jumped into a tree trying to lose Naruto but he always ended up falling into his pace.

"Stop following me dope!"

"Shut up! Stop calling me dope!"

"I will if you stop following me dope!"

"YEA WHATEVER!" Naruto launched himself right at Sasuke and since the raven haired boy was in mid-air, he was unable to dodge.

"No! You dope!" Naruto tackled Sasuke and they both fell into the bushes and rolled out onto the other side punching and kicking at each other.

"Naruto? Sasuke? What are you guys doing?" stopping in mid strife they heard a feminine voice speak their names and they turned to see Sakura along with Neji.

* * *

Jyo-Chan - I am very happy that so many people liked this lil ficcy! Thank you so very much for your reviews! It is very much appreaciated!

Naruto - Thanks!

Neji - …

Jyo-Chan - He says thanks too!

Gaara - …

Jyo-Chan - Him too.

Sasuke - …

Jyo-Chan - And him…

Sakura - Thank you so very much neh!

Jyo-Chan - YAY!


	5. Confession and Trust

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

**Previously...**

>"No! You dope!" Naruto tackled Sasuke and they both fell into the bushes and rolled out onto the other side punching and kicking at each other.

>"Naruto? Sasuke? What are you guys doing?" stopping in mid strife they heard a feminine voice speak their names and they turned to see Sakura along with Neji.

* * *

'This is...weird…' Sakura thought as she saw Naruto and Sasuke still in a bunch. She watched them as they tried to untangle themselves. 

"…I'll leave now…See you tomorrow…" Neji nodded at her and walked off.

"Bye bye!" she waved him off and returned to watching Naruto and Sasuke in their strange predicament, she couldn't help but smile at their situation.

"Get off me, dope!" Sasuke pushed Naruto's head away.

"Don't touch me! Stop calling me dope!" Naruto's hand was on Sasuke's head and his knee trying to get out of the tangle.

"Ah! Dope! You're hand is on my face!"

"Well, you too! Baka!"

Sakura smiled at her two team mates, they can bring back to many funny memories.

"You guys are so funny to watch." She smiled at them again, folding up her handkerchief and stuffing it into her pocket. They froze and stumbled out of the twist and acted normal again.

"Uh…Right…Ahem…" Sasuke brushed off the dirt on his clothes while Naruto rubbed his head.

"So…What's up?" she continued to smile at them at their embarrassment. Sasuke's blush disappeared to a face of seriousness that didn't faze Sakura like it used to, but Naruto was still blushing away.

"What were doing with Neji and Gaara yesterday? I know it wasn't just an ordinary picnic, and if it were…Why them?" Sasuke watched her intently, looking for signs of hesitation or nervousness but none came.

"Oh them? You know, I decided to take a day off from training and thought that it would be nice to eat outside and since I bumped into those two first, I asked them to come which they didn't mind much at all."

"You're lying…" in truth, Sasuke couldn't sense any tone of dishonesty from her, but it made him wonder more about Sakura and what she had been doing these past few months.

"Why would I lie? It's true, I did end up seeing them first and it's not like you'd like to join me. I did ask you but you refused anyway." Sakura's smile was wavering, but she still spoke in a polite, friendly way. Naruto was no longer blushing, but was now watching the conversation between his two team mates.

"How would you know? I could've just said yes instead." Sasuke was getting impatient but still remained calm.

"I know you Sasuke-Kun. You wouldn't say yes even if I begged for days on end. Don't you remember?" she smiled again at the thought of the memories with team seven.

"Stop smiling like an idiot." His voice was more firm now and it made her jump a little bit.

"Hey! I resent that!" Naruto pouted at Sasuke but he ignored him.

"What's with you Sasuke! It's not like I can't hang out with other people you know!" Sakura's hands were on her hips her pink brows furrowed.

"But why did you hang out with them! Neji nearly killed Hinata once and Gaara's killed more people than we can ever count!" he clenched his hand and his knuckles grew white.

"Why do you even care!" she screamed at him and Naruto jumped at her voice.

"Because I love you!" Sasuke was quiet now, unsure why he just confessed his love to her when he never knew what love was to begin with.

"…!" Sakura was shocked and so was Naruto, he stood there just gaping at him.

"…" Sasuke looked away not wanting to look at her.

"You…"

* * *

Sakura walked silently through the streets of Konoha, mind deep in thought going over the things that have just recently happened to her today. 

It was just past the sun set but the sky already grew dark. The roads were lit by light posts and as the wind blew, the rustling of leaves could be heard.

**Flashback**

"_You…What do you mean?" she looked at him, she tried to look into his eyes but he avoided her gaze._

"_Sasuke…tell me..."she tried again but he continued to look away from her._

_Sasuke gritted his teeth and in his confusion and frustration he turned and walked off._

"_Sasuke! Wait!" she called out to him but he refused to stop, he refused to look back._

_Naruto watched him walk away from them. Growing more and more concern for the raven haired boy and his former crush._

"_What just happened? Naruto?" she spoke in a quiet voice, her eyes never left Sasuke's back._

**End Flashback**

She sighed. Finally deciding to look up, she saw Gaara just some paces away from her. She decided to worry about it later at home.

"Hey Gaara-Kun! What are you doing out here?" she put up her usual smile. It was somewhat forced but always honest.

"…Nothing…" he spoke in a clipped tone, arms crossed and eyes almost leering at her.

"Would you like to join me for dinner? If you haven't eaten yet." She walked up to him knowing full well that he wouldn't walk up to other people even if it was just a shuffle away.

"…Hn…" he made a small nod and she walked in pace with him.

"How was I today? Better? Even just a tiny bit." She made a gesture with her thumb and index finger.

"…Hn…" he closed his eyes but continued to walk.

"I'll take that as a compliment ne?" she smiled at him and started to hum a tune.

"…" he stopped walking, his eyes still closed but his forehead was furrowed in thought.

"What's wrong Gaara-Kun?" she stopped as well tilting her head to the right.

He was starting to relax now, the way his shoulders settled down and his deep breathing exercises.

"Gaara?" she looked worried, and she stepped a little closer to him. He slowly opened his eyes and stared into her jaded orbs.

"Gaara, what is it? What's wrong?" she spoke softly so that it might encourage him talk to her more.

He continued to stare into her eyes, eyes which showed concern and gentleness. Both things that he had not been able to experience after the accident with his uncle Yashamaru.

"Gaara…Say something…please." She reached out for him, but he took a step back. She felt a pang of sadness in her heart, when Gaara moved away from her touch. She slowly lowered her hand.

He watched her, her eyes changing from compassion to hurt. Her eyes glazed over, and she looked away. He couldn't help but feel guilty that he caused that sadness. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out nor sound.

Feeling too depressed to stay any longer and feeling that she wasn't wanted, she decided to leave.

He saw her retreating figure and began to worry. He reached to her and stepped forward hoping it might grab her attention but when she didn't stop he had to speak.

"Wait! Don't go…" she had stopped walking but she didn't turn around. He took another step forward, hoping it won't end up making her run away.

"Why…won't you tell me? Is it because you don't trust me? I understand…I mean, we've only known each other for no more than 3 months right?" her voice was cracking but she tried to hold it together.

'I refuse to cry again…I can't. I've worked so hard to get this far…' Sakura thought to herself, forcing back the tears that threaten to fall.

"No, it's…I." he stuttered with his words which shocked Sakura as well as himself. It wasn't like him to stumble with his words. He took another step forward, his arm still reaching out to her. She remained motionless, waiting for him to say more. Hoping that the next words he spoke might bring her back from misery.

"Yes? Gaara…" her voice was soft, quiet. A void…

"I…" he began but found it hard to speak the next few words. He took a deep breath and began again.

"I…I'm sorry…" it surprised Sakura, hearing an apology from Gaara.

"I find it hard to trust people…the last one I trusted with my life…I ended up killing instead…" he lowered his hand a little bit. Sakura remained quiet and transfixed in her spot.

"I understand…" feeling somewhat satisfied at his answer, she made her way to her home.

"But I trust you…" she froze, her eyes lit up.

'Am I being accepted by Gaara?' she thought to herself slowly turning around to see his face.

It was sincere, his pale green eyes showed vulnerability.

'He never exposes himself. Not like this. Does that mean…he really trusts me?' she took a step forward.

He wanted to hold something and the closest thing was Sakura. But he didn't want to sacrifice their relationship just because he wanted a hug.

The weird thing was that she actually brought up both of her arms, offering something he was unable to have for so long.

He felt acknowledged. He embraced her as she did to him.

"Thank you…" he whispered into her hair.

"No…thank you." She smiled and cried at the same time.

* * *

Jyo-Chan – Well there ya go! It took me a while but I had loads of homework! But you guys come first neh! And also because I better finish this fic before I forget much of the plot which freaking sucks. Thanks much to those who reviewed and sweet as! Laters dudes and dudettes! 

Naruto – School's being a drag for her…

Sakura – Yea! Too much homework!

Jyo-Chan – I wish they would give less…(Looks at Neji, Sasuke and Gaara.) Uh….What are they doing?

Naruto – They're in a staring competition…

Sakura – I think it's more like glaring…

Jyo-Chan – I agree…


	6. Name Calling

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

It was unfortunate that she had a mission the next day with her team. It was not only awkward for Sakura but also Sasuke but he hid it quite skillfully. So Sakura decided to play it cool as well.

"Mou…Where's Kakashi-sensei…He's always so damn late…" Naruto pouted his lips and sat down on the bridge.

"Hehe…He never changes does he." Sakura smiled at Naruto and looked up at the sky.

'I remember Neji used to look at the sky like this…' she thought to herself. Just then, they heard a 'poof' and there stood their aloof teacher.

"Yo!" he waved and they all gave him a death glare.

"Ah sorry sorry, I saw this little lady that…uh…was giving birth in the middle of the street?" he scratched his head.

"LIAR!" both Sakura and Naruto yelled and pointed at their teacher. Sakura giggled after that.

"Neh just like old times." She smiled at Naruto and Kakashi.

"Hehe. Yup." Naruto placed both of his hands behind his head.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei! What mission are we doing today?" she clasped both of her hands in excitement.

"Ah…Let's see…It's a Ranked D mission I'm afraid. Nothing exciting." He took out his 'Come come paradise A.K.A Icha icha paradise' and began to read.

"Kakashi-sensei! How many of those perverted books do you have!" she pointed at the book with a disturbed look on her face.

"Ah! This is the seventeenth volume!" his visible eye curved to a crescent indicating that he's smiling.

"…I can't believe this…" Sakura's eye twitched.

"Mou…I can't believe that Ero-sennin is such a freaking pervert…" (A/N: Ero-sennin means perverted hermit…A.K.A Jiraiya-sensei…)

"What about the mission…" Sakura and Naruto turned around to find Sasuke speaking whom they have forgotten about and turned back to look at Kakashi.

"Ah…cleaning windows…" he was still reading his book.

"NANI! BUT THAT'S SO BORING!" Naruto grabbed his hair in frustration.

"Naruto, don't be so loud." Sakura punched him on the head.

"Itai…" he began to massage it.

"Ah…Let's go then…" Kakashi walked off to their next client's house and the team followed behind.

* * *

Sakura hummed to herself as she cleaned up one of the windows on the fourth floor. (A/N: They used the tree climbing technique…During episodes…somewhere in the first 20…) She was already done on the first three floors on her side of the house. Sasuke was on the third floor on his side and Naruto was on the second floor of his side.

"Come on Naruto! If you finish before me I'll treat you to ramen!" she yelled out to Naruto's side.

"Really! Oh right! I'll do my best Sakura-Chan!" Naruto performed his Kage Bunshin no Justu and his clones did some of the work for him.

'Well…I didn't say he couldn't use techniques.' She thought to herself and went back to work.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel somewhat jealous at that moment. He knows that Naruto likes Sakura and he didn't mind that. It was mainly because she didn't ask him to join her later on.

'She's acting as if nothing happened yesterday…Why do I feel like this?' Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"Hey Sasuke-Kun! Do you wanna join us later on too?" she yelled out to his side as well.

"WHAT! NO SAKURA-CHAN! DON'T INVITE THAT BAKA!" Naruto cried out to Sakura.

"Naruto! Keep working or no ramen!" she barked at Naruto.

"Noooooooo!" echoes in the forest…

"So Sasuke-kun…Do you wanna join us?" she called out to Sasuke.

"Whatever…"

"Great! Let's get this done then shall we?" she continued on with her work, humming a tune as she did it.

* * *

"Yes! We've finished this god-damned house!" Naruto yawned out and stretched his aching muscles.

"Yup! Now we can go get something to eat!" Sakura did a few stretches as well.

"Who owns a six storey house but never use it anyway…" Sasuke mumbled to himself but Sakura heard him.

"Yea! I was just thinking about that too!" she smiled at him and he blushed a bit.

"Alright then. Now that's done…I'm gonna go home and sleep. So tired…" Kakashi yawned but kept on reading his book.

"But you didn't even do anything!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi.

"Well…I'm off…No missions tomorrow or training. Laters." And with that, he disappeared with a 'poof'.

"Oh well…What do you guys want to do tomorrow? I wouldn't mind watching you guys spar or maybe we could even go hang out with the other teams like Ino's or Lee's. Hey! We should have a party or something! All of us together just hanging out and stuffs!" she talked excitedly while Naruto talked along with her and they walked off to Ichiraku ramen. Sasuke followed silently behind them.

* * *

"Neh Sasuke-Kun? Why are you so quiet? Well, it's not like you talk a lot but you should talk a bit more! You know, socialize…" she talked to Sasuke while Naruto dug into his bowl of ramen.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto yelled out happily.

"Hello? Yoohoo! Anyone in there?" she tilted her head to see Sasuke's face a bit better.

"Can we talk outside…" he murmured out.

"Oh yea sure. Naruto! We'll be outside alright?" she told him but all he did was wave them off as he continued to eat. She sighed and walked outside.

"What's up Sasuke-Kun?" still holding up her act until it was necessary to take off her mask again.

"…" his brows furrowed in thought but she waited patiently until he was ready to speak again.

'She's acting so normally…as if nothing did happen yesterday…' he thought to himself.

She continued to stand there and look around the streets, taking in every single detail about it.

"…" he was about to speak when he beat her to it.

"Sasuke-Kun? Did you really mean what you said yesterday?" she looked past Sasuke's head, not directly looking at him.

"…" his hands in his pocket, he realized that she wasn't looking at him. The eyes that use to show so much happiness only for him were gone.

She remained quiet, waiting for his response. She could hear Naruto's slurps and the boiling of the water inside the bar. The wind's silent voice as its' little hands went around her legs and through her pink hair.

"I…" he began only to be cut off by…

"Sakura big forehead! How are you!" Sasuke's eye twitched when he heard that voice.

"Hi Ino-pig…" she shot her a menacing look.

"Hehe…what are you doing with my Sasuke-Kun? Just because he's in your team and your relation with him is improving doesn't mean that you have free will of him." Ino sneered at her.

"Whatever…I'm gonna grab some ramen." She smirked back at her and headed back into the ramen bar.

"…I was hoping we'll get to tease each other a bit more than that. Sigh…I haven't had a good fight with her for a long time." She sighed and went into the bar as well hoping that they could continue from before.

Sasuke's eye twitched again and he decided to getaway before it becomes uncontrollable.

* * *

"What do you want Ino-pig…." Sakura spat out to Ino in a joking manner.

"What were you doing with my Sasuke-Kun Sakura big forehead?" she fought back.

"Who said that he was yours pig?"

"Who said he wasn't big forehead?"

"Calling you pig takes less effort for me than for you to mock me…" she quarreled back.

"So what? It doesn't matter. More is better!" she crossed her arms.

"Yea right. You're still growing your hair for Sasuke-Kun?" Sakura placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, so are you. I can't lose to you in looks." Ino smirked.

"But at least I'm stronger and better than you. I have wisdom and beauty as well as strength pig."

"Who says so?"

"I do!" they glared at each other.

Ino's team and Sakura's team minus Sasuke watched them bite each others heads off. It was getting almost dangerous but then someone came in and the fighting atmosphere diminished.

"Looks like someone is getting into the killer mood as well…" the person spoke monotonously.

"Hi Gaara-Kun…you know me. Me and Ino were just joking around." She waved at the red head.

"You're lucky that he came to your rescue. I would've kicked your butt anytime big forehead!" Ino spoke confidently.

"Oh yea? You wanna prove that pig!" They went back to glaring.

"I thought that name calling was something of the past already..." he continued to speak in his uninterested voice.

"Hehe…Wanna join us for ramen? I was just about to eat but this pig here won't stop talking." She pointed to Ino.

"Who are you calling pig big forehead!" she yelled back.

"I'm calling you pig!" she screamed back.

"Sigh…this is so troublesome…" Shikamaru placed a hand to his forehead and Chouji was eating away with Naruto.

"What did you say Shikamaru…" she towered over him and he visibly shrunk.

'Great…her attention is off me…now I can eat in peace.' Sakura thought as she took a seat beside Naruto. She gesture for Gaara to sit beside her. He shrugged before he took the seat beside her.

"Hey, what have you been up to?" she smiled at him.

"Brooding…" he sighed.

"Just because it's the full moon…why don't you just try and relax a bit. It'll do you good!" she punched him on the shoulder lightly.

"That was horrible…" he stared at her from the corner of his eye, smirking.

"Hehe. What do you want to order?" she tilted her head in a cute manner.

"Anything is fine with me…I'll have whatever you'll have." He closed his eyes.

"What if I order something you don't like?" she grinned at him.

"What if you order something I do like?" his eyes still shut.

"Then I'll have to make note of that then now won't I?" she teased him and he smirked back.

She noted that Naruto's slurping has stopped only to be replaced by his voice.

"Hey Oyaji! Another bowl of Miso ramen please!" he yelled out at the bar owner behind the counter. (A/N: Oyaji means uncle in a…seemingly rude way but in Naruto's case it's natural neh!)

"Hey! I want Chicken ramen please! Make it two! Is chicken ok?" she turned to Gaara who just shrugged it off with a 'Hn'.

This was considered their late lunch and early dinner for most of them anyway. Naruto and Chouji ate late dinners and late suppers all the time. They stayed there till it was way past the sunset.

* * *

"Bye Ino-pig! I hope you don't end up falling flat on your face on your way home!" she smirked at Ino.

"Yea Sakura big forehead, I hope you don't bang into someone and give them amnesia because of your forehead." She sneered back at her.

"Laters." She waved at Ino and her other friends and walked off with Gaara.

"Still restless?" she asked him.

"Always…" he sighed.

"You've been sighing a lot lately…Wanna tell me about it?" she smiled at him.

"…I haven't killed anything for so long…I need a mission…" he sounded dead serious too.

"Can't you do anything other than train, eat and kill?" she asked jokingly.

"You forgot breathe as well as other things." He smirked at her.

"That's common knowledge…" she crossed her arms.

"Well, so is killing." He leered at her.

"Baka." She smirked at him.

* * *

Jyo-Chan – Wah….So much homework…I was hoping I wouldn't have to do soooo much today….but damn! I was sooooo wrong!

Sakura – Neh, why don't you do your homework now and then you won't have to do it later?

Jyo-Chan – I'm too lazy…and it's so troublesome…

Naruto – You sound like Shikamaru…

Jyo-Chan – I got a bit of everyone in me, I like ramen but I'm lazy. I can get quite intimidating and glare at a lot of people when I'm in a bad mood. (Looks at Neji, Sasuke and Gaara.)

Sakura – Hehe. That's so funny.

Naruto – Hey! What flavor do you like?

Jyo-Chan – I like chicken and beef and seafood…(and this goes on for hours…)

**P.S – Gimme some ideas on who you wanna see next chapter neh!**


	7. A mission of Mist

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Requested by Queen Cow and Steak! Thank you for your reviews! They are highly appreciated! Arigatou Gozaimasu!

* * *

"Tsunade-Sama…" she bowed as a sign of respect to their Hokage of the village.

"Good morning Sakura. Do you have any idea why you're here?" she looked at the pink haired shinobi with her chin on top of her hands and elbow on the desk.

Sakura looked to her left and saw Gaara leaning on the wall with arms crossed and eyes closed. To her right in front of Tsunade was Neji sitting in the chair with his leg crossed over the other in a manly way and arms folded as well.

They both looked like they're smirking at her.

"Mission? Hokage-Sama?" she asked with a sense of eagerness and determination in her voice.

"Correct Sakura. I need you as well as Gaara and Neji in a mission. This is an A rank mission. It involves going over to the Hidden Village of Mist. They need some assistance in a complicated matter. Here is the scroll of what you need to do and when you're needed."

She handed over the scroll to Neji who took it without question or hesitation.

They both looked like they're smirking at her…or with her.

'Yes! I can finally prove myself!' she thought happily to herself.

"Thank you Tsunade-Sama." She made her way out of the office and Gaara and Neji followed after.

"Neji-Kun, what does the scroll say?" Sakura looked at Neji who was holding the scroll.

He opened with and began to read.

"Their village is currently low on ninjas and has asked us for help. It is urgent that we get there within the week. The village has been attacked by enemy villages over the past few months and is in a dire situation." Neji finished summarizing.

"Great. When shall we leave? The sooner the better right?" she smiled at them. Gaara nodded his head.

"Bring your weapons and any other supplies that you might need as well as provisions. Meet at the main gates, we will depart in an hour." Neji spoke as he rolled up the scroll.

"Ok, see you guys later." She walked off to her home to pack up the things she might need during the mission.

'Wow…my first mission with Gaara and Neji. This is gonna be so cool.' She thought to herself unaware that she increased her speed to a slow run.

* * *

"Hey guys!" Sakura with her bag ran up to Neji and Gaara who were already by the gates. 

"You're late…" Gaara smirked at her.

"But the hour isn't even up yet!" she pouted her lips at him.

"The scroll said that we need to be there within the week…so the sooner we leave, the sooner we will get there." Neji spoke to her with a tone of mockery in his voice.

"Meany…" she crossed her arms in frustration.

"Passports?" Neji asked her.

"Check!" she smiled.

"Weapons?" he droned on.

"Check!" she chimed.

"Food…" Gaara decided to cut in.

"Check! Hehe." She punched him on the shoulder.

"Other needs of yours?" Neji carried on.

"…yes…" she blushed.

"Let's go…" they moved off into the direction of the hidden village of Mist.

* * *

Their journey wasn't all that dangerous. There were a few run-ins with bandits and some lower class exiled-nins, but it wasn't something they couldn't handle. There were a few set traps but it was easy for them to avoid. Apart from those minor distractions, they managed to get to the village in four days with minimal rest and all in one piece. 

"Ah, we're finally here!" she did a stretch when they neared the gates. Two guards appeared.

"State your name and purpose here…" one of the guards spoke.

Neji, Sakura and Gaara flashed them their passports.

"Hyuuga Neji of the Hidden Village of Konoha, here to assist the village as a request from your Kage."

"Haruno Sakura of the Hidden Village of Konoha, here to assist as well."

"Sabaku no Gaara…Hidden Village of Sand…Here to assist as well…"

The guards saw their passports and decided to let them pass.

"Let's go confirm our arrival to the Mizukage…" Neji headed to the direction of the office.

"But we're dirty and we should try and present ourselves nicely to the Kage." Sakura spoke to Neji holding onto his sleeve.

"We're just confirming our coming and then we'll leave." Neji looked at her with a look that shouldn't be questioned.

"Fine…" she sulked along side Neji and Gaara as they all headed to the office.

* * *

"Please thank Hokage-Sama after this and also thank you for coming so quickly." The Mizukage was quite tall and fit as well as polite. 

"We need as much help as we can get." The Mizukage bowed at them.

"We will help as much as we can." They bowed and took their leave.

"Where to now?" Sakura looked around the village. There were buildings that can't seem to be able to hold up much longer and there were some businesses that were still open in spite of a war going on. There were blood splats on the walls and on the floors as well as kunais and shurikens lodged into the buildings and some were on the ground.

"I hope they will be ok, I wish I got here faster now…" she continued to look around.

"There's nothing we could do about that, we must focus on what to do now instead of worrying what we could've done." He spoke emotionlessly.

Something had caught her attention and she saw a girl holding onto a lamp post and looking fearfully at her. She couldn't stand the sight so she walked over to the girl. Neji and Gaara stopped to see what she was doing.

"Hey, come over here. I won't hurt you. I promise." She crouched down and smiled at the girl who looked hesitantly before moving closer.

"Hey…so what's your name?" she smiled at the girl again who only looked around about 5 or 6 years old.

"My name is Chiyako…" she spoke timidly.

"What are you doing out here Chiyako? It's dangerous here. Where's your mummy and daddy?" Sakura asked Chiyako.

"My mummy and daddy are gone…" Sakura's smile disappeared as the little girl began to cry.

"Please don't cry…" she cooed Chiyako, hoping it would stop her from crying.

"Why…" she whispered to herself as she hugged the now trembling girl.

"…It's the way is it…They could not escape the wrath of the adversaries and have therefore suffered and died a gruesome death. Those who could not flee in time have also died…" Sakura looked up to see a hunter-nin of Mist. His mask was white with red swirls and the symbol of the Mist village on the forehead.

"Who are you…" she spoke firmly her hold on the girl tightened and he backed away.

"Since you are helping us, it is only fair that I introduce myself…" the hunter-nin jumped off the roof and landed in front of Sakura. The hunter-nin took the mask and Sakura gasped.

"Boku wa…Haru desu…" (A/N: Boku is a term only used by boys…and also…'Boku wa…Haru desu' means I am Haru.)

'He looks like…Haku...' Sakura took a further step back feeling intimidated by him.

The boy in front of her was about the same age as her, and looked almost exactly like Haku, except that his style of clothing is different and his hair is slightly shorter but was tied in a ponytail. (A/N: Idrew a picture of him! But…I don't have a site to put it up on…Sigh…)

Haru wore a loose black turtle neck shirt with red markings and a three quarter sleeve fish net shirt underneath. He had black shorts with the same markings as well and bandages covering both legs.

She took a further step back, still holding onto the girl.

"Don't…come any closer." With one hand she took out a kunai.

"You look as if I'm one of your enemies…" he said calmly.

'Yea…you almost killed Sasuke once…Even though you're not Haku…' she thought to herself.

"I don't trust you enough…" she held onto her kunai tighter.

"Very well…I shall take my leave…I know when I am not wanted…" he bowed to the three of them and he left after placing back on his mask of the Mist village.

"Sakura…" Gaara spoke up.

"Yes Gaara?"

"We should get going…"

"Can I take her with me? I can get a separate room." She pleaded.

"Whatever you wish…"

'Wow…he's…somewhat polite…'

"Hey Chiyako…would you like to live with me while I'm here? And then maybe I could take you back with me to Konoha if I ask Mizukage-Sama." She asked her.

"I would…like that…" she managed to crack a little smile.

"You should smile more often, it looks nice." She smiled back.

"Hai." She and Chiyako walked off to their hotel. They were unaware that they were being watched by the same hunter-nin.

* * *

"Turn back while you can, this is the only time I will forgive you." The pink shinobi yelled to her foe. 

"You're nothing but a girl! What makes you think I would surrender to the likes of you?" the ninja spoke.

He came from the neighboring islands surrounding the country of mist trying to over power them since the village of mist's defenses were weak.

"Don't you just love it when they underestimate you?" she smirked as she spoke to Neji.

"Get it over and done with…" he spoke as he made off to the center of a group of low-level nins.

"Byakugan! Hakke, Shou Kaiten!" he spun around on the spot as a field of chakra surrounded him and deflected both the enemy and weapons away.

"Sabaku no Kyuu!" sand enveloped another group of the opponents of Hidden Mist and it rained blood. It seemed to make Gaara smile maniacally.

"After all…this is the Hidden Village of Bloody Mist…" he smirked and a few people fled in fear for their lives.

"Gaara…you're too much." She spoke but she never took her eyes off her enemy. She got into a defensive position.

"You're still willing to fight me? No matter…I'll make your death come nice and quick." He charged forwards at her but she dodged to the left and threw a handful of shurikens at him. His arms came up to protect him and a few got lodged into them.

In the background, she could hear Neji's shouts and Gaara's laugh as well as the clashing of weapons.

"I'm not dead yet…" she said almost like a conversation.

"I'll kill you!" he ran towards her again but she sighed and made a few hand seals.

"Suiton! Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" a surge of water that formed into a dragon rushed at its target, washing him away.

"That shows him who's better…Jerk off…" she was about to walk away when she heard clapping.

"My, my…Well aren't you a naughty little angel, hurting my men like that. But I suppose he deserves it for his foolishness…My apologies my dear…" a man jumped down from the tree and bowed to Sakura.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked in a not so friendly tone.

"And here I am being nice to you…you break my heart…" he feinted crying.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want." She grabbed her kunai and held it firmly.

"I…am here to claim this here land and my name is of no importance…"

"And why not?" with her other hand she took hold of a few shurikens.

"Because my dear…you will die…" he disappeared from her line of sight but he reappeared right in front of her and punched her in the guts. She flew backwards and coughed up some blood.

"Shot, I didn't see that coming." She glared at him while he looked calm as if fighting wasn't such a big deal.

"Come dear, show me what you've got…Don't hold back on me now." He smirked at her.

She threw her shurikens at him but he dodged them and came forward once more and grabbed her forehead. He brought her down and kicked her in her abdomen. She coughed up more blood and the force could've thrown her a few feet away but he held steadfast onto her.

He let go of her but punched her on her right cheek, she fell on the ground and the bruise was already showing. Blood trickled down her corner of her mouth.

'Not good…This is not good.' She scolded herself for underestimating him as they did her.

When she thought of a plan he vanished again only to show up above her with a kunai in each hand.

'No!' she froze unsure of what to do next. She clamped her eyes shut not wanting to see her death. But it never came. She heard a clash of weapons in front of her.

She slowly opened her eyes again only to see…

"Sasuke!"

* * *

Jyo-Chan – Wahahaha! I took bits of this and that from reviews yea! What cha guys think? Hehehehe! 

Naruto – (Eating ramen…)

Sakura – (Reading 'My blood on your hands…')

Jyo-Chan – Guys?


	8. Blood of an Angel

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

**Previously…**

>She slowly opened her eyes again only to see…

>"Sasuke!"

* * *

"Sasuke!" Sakura gasped at him.

"Sakura…don't just sit there…" he pushed the other man away.

"Wait! What are you doing here!" she yelled out at him.

"We'll talk later, busy yourself with the other guys, I can handle this one." He didn't look at her while he spoke, keeping his eyes on the other ninja.

"Hey! He was mine first!" she pulled him back and his eyes swirled with the Sharingan. His red eyes stared back at Sakura but it didn't faze her.

"Sakura…He's too strong…don't make me lose you again…" he looked away and went back to the ninja that stood a few paces away.

'Sasuke?' she thought to herself as she slowly found herself walking away even though she didn't want to.

"Ah…someone worthy at last, but she was fun to play around with…" he smiled at him in a friendly way.

"Touch her and I'll make you pay…" he got into a fighting position.

"Ah but I would like to know your name…You may call me Zuchi…" he made a bow but his eyes never leaving Sasuke.

"I do not intend to give you mine since you will die…" he ran towards him with his Sharingan spinning furiously.

'Déjà vu…' Zuchi thought to himself.

Sasuke soon became nothing but a blur of blue and white to Zuchi and he had trouble keeping up with him. First he threw kunais and shurikens at him and a few made direct hit with him but he disappeared in a splash of water.

'Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu?' Sasuke thought to himself.

"Hmph…" Sasuke smirked and turned around just in time to see the ninja's technique coming his way. He made a few hand seals and countered Zuchi's attack.

"Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!" he took a deep breath and a jet of hot fire came out and blasted Zuchi's technique away. While he was off-guard, Sasuke took this chance to perform his next attack.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" little shoots of fire came at him but he decided to call upon a wall of water but Sasuke's attack came through. He hadn't notice that there were kunais hidden in the small jets of fire.

At least five kunais were lodged into his enemy's body. One was embedded in his right shoulder and the other one on his left arm. Two were on his chest and abdomen while the other one was rooted into his left thigh.

He coughed up blood and decided to retreat for today.

"This isn't over boy…I'll be back for you and your little angel, so you better watch out." He made a few hand seals and was gone before Sasuke could kill him.

"Damn it!"

* * *

"Sasuke! What are you doing here?" she asked him firmly.

They were now back at the hotel and Gaara, being the least injured and needed no sleep at all, had decided to stay up all night as a sentinel.

"You didn't come to our meetings so I got suspicious…"

"So!" she raised her voice.

"I went to see Hokage and I demanded to take your mission…"

"How did you know about the mission?" she questioned him.

"I guessed…so I came to fill out the last spot of your platoon…" he said coolly.

'Sasuke's gonna be a distraction to me…' she thought to herself.

"Sakura…let him be. He's already here and it would be a waste of time and resources to send him back…" Neji spoke as he leaned on a window sill.

"Alpha to Beta…everything is clear from out here…Over…" Gaara spoke on the other side of the earphones to Neji.

"Beta to Alpha…very well…keep a good eye out for intruders of the village…over…" Neji replied back.

"Alpha to Beta…understood…Over…" Gaara signed off.

It was then Chiyako decided to come into the room. She rubbed her eye from just waking up.

"Sakura-nee-chan…What's wrong?" Chiyako spoke softly.

"Ah gomen Chiyako-Chan, I didn't mean to wake you up…go back to sleep ok?" Sakura crouched in front of Chiyako and nudged her back into the bedroom.

"Who's she?" Sasuke asked.

"I found her, and it wouldn't be nice of me to just leave her with no home and family to go to." She murmured out.

"Hn…"

* * *

"Who is it?" Sakura opened the door to find Haru on the other side.

"What do you want?" she growled out.

"Good morning to you too…" he spoke sarcastically.

"…" she glared at him.

"Mizukage would like to speak with you…All four of you…not the child…" he bowed and walked away.

"Wait…what the….how did he know?" she stuttered out.

"Who was that Sakura…" Sasuke just came out from the shower.

"…A messenger…he wants all of us to see the Mizukage…" her voice was serious but not as demanding as before.

"Hn…" he leaned on the door frame with one arm. His hair was dripping with water but he was fully clothed.

"I'll go get Neji and Gaara…" she moved off.

* * *

They walked through the door, one by one. It wasn't until they were all in the room until one of them spoke.

"Mizukage-Sama…" all of them bowed to him as a sign of respect.

"Good morning, I hope you didn't find yesterday's wave too difficult…" he apologized to them.

"No…yesterday was fine…when will the next wave be expected…?" Neji asked him.

"They usually come once every two days…but it can be quite spontaneous I'm afraid…"

"I see, what are our numbers?" Neji spoke while Sasuke examined the room. He could see only one hunter-nin beside him who was wearing a mask.

"We don't have much but ever since you've came, we have lost less ninjas…"

"How are our defenses?"

"The north side is the strongest so far, the east side is slightly weakening but the south west side is crumbling…" he rubbed his forehead to ease the headache.

"Very well…we shall set up the defenses now…" Neji bowed and walked out of the room but the Mizukage stopped them.

"Wait…please take the hunter-nin with you, he will prove to be useful…" he sat back down on the chair as the said nin came forward.

"Yes Mizukage-Sama…" and bowing once more, they made their way out of the office.

* * *

"Gaara…You take the east side, Sasuke can take the west side. I will take the south side while the hunter-nin and Sakura can take the south-west side. And if they need help, Sasuke and I can come and help out. Any problems?" Neji drew a map of the main island of Mist and pointed to the places where they were appointed to. They shook their heads.

'Why do I have to be with the hunter-nin?' Sakura thought to herself.

'Why does she have to be with the hunter-nin?' Sasuke thought to himself as he leered at the masked shinobi.

"Good…we can communicate to each other with these ear phones…" Neji handed each of them one and they placed it to their ears as they stood up.

"Gaara…you are Gamma, Sasuke is Theta, Sakura and the hunter-nin will be Beta and I will be Alpha…the whole group will be Omega…Converse to each other with these terms…Move out!" and they vanished in a cloud of dust.

* * *

"Theta to Omega…West side is clear of enemies…over…" Sasuke spoke to teams Beta, Alpha and Gaama.

"Gamma to Omega…East side is clear…over…" Gaara murmured out to the others.

"Alpha to Omega…no signs of enemies here either…over…" Neji mumbled through his ear piece.

"…" no signs from Beta.

"Alpha to Beta…do you read? Over…" Neji spoke to teams Beta.

"Beta…Omega…south west side…attack…need back up…" the signal was blurred and fuzzy but both Neji and Theta rushed to helped Beta.

"Alpha going to Beta. Leaving south position. Over." Neji shouted out.

"Theta going to Beta. Departing from west position. Over." Sasuke yelled out to his ear piece.

"Understood…Gamma will remain in position. Over…"

* * *

"Suiton! Suijinheki!" Sakura yelled out as the water elemental attack assaulted her enemies.

"Suiton…Suikoudan no Jutsu." Haru called out as another water elemental attack harmed his offenders.

"Beta to Omega! Do you read? We need back up now!" Sakura shouted into her earpiece but didn't receive an answer back.

"Damn it!" she performed another series of hand seals.

"Kikyou no Jutsu!" (A/N: meaning…Morning Mist Technique…I hope that's right…) soon, they were covered up by a thick mist.

This was Haru's specialty. He skilled with his hearing and could detect anybody even without seeing where they are. He crouched low on the ground and took out a few kunais in each hand. He threw a few in front of him and he heard a cry and a thump. Bulls eye…

Meanwhile, Sakura was also crouching on the ground holding onto three kunais in one hand and three shurikens in the other. She didn't throw any of the projectile weapons in case she ends up hurting her partner. She kept her position until she saw someone in front of her other than Haru.

She threw her shurikens at him and being too close to her, he was unable to dodge the attack and fell to the ground with a groan.

"Haru…Where are you?" she whispered into her earpiece.

"I'm not too far away, whatever you want to do, just do it. I can dodge whatever you're going to throw…" he whispered back to her.

She took out an explosive note and wrapped around one of the kunais she held and threw it in front of her.

BANG!

* * *

BANG!

"No, Sakura!" Sasuke increased his speed when he heard explosion. In front of him he saw Neji running towards their direction.

"Neji! Did you hear that?" he came up to speed with him.

"Yea. We should hurry." He replied back.

As they ran, the air began to grow heavier with mist.

"Neji!" Sasuke shouted out to him.

"Just follow me. Byakugan!" his eyes were surrounded by veins in the occurrence of the Hyuuga's technique.

Sasuke decided to activate his Sharingan as well.

* * *

"My, my…this is quite a twist." Sakura's eyes widened when she heard hat voice.

"Never knew this little angel could be so capable of performing such a technique. It's proving to be quite a bother. I should dispose of you…" without hesitation he lunged forward to Sakura and hammered her to the ground. She disappeared in a 'poof' and a chunk of wood replaced her instead.

He dodged to the left when he felt something come at him. They were kunais wrapped in explosive notes and when they exploded, a powerful force flung Zuchi into the air but he landed gracefully back to the ground.

"Not good enough my dear, but you are getting very tiresome…" he smirked at her and charged at her again with a katana in hand. He slashed his katana at her but she grabbed a kunai and blocked it.

She was unaware that his clone came up from behind until it was too late. There were blood splats everywhere and his clone turned back into water.

"Haru!" she couldn't look back or else Zuchi would have an advantage over her.

"You want to look at your friend? Feel free…" he jumped away from her to allow her room to look around. His figure was partly covered by the mist but he could still be seen.At first she hesitated, but she could hear his rasping breathes.

"Haru!" she yelled out his name, he was bent over knees and hands on the floor. His mask was slashed right through and there was a deep cut on his face, from his left temple to his right cheek.

"Haru! Say something!" she held onto him to give him support but he continued to ignore her. His breathing was labored and he held onto the fabric that covered his heart.

Blood covered a majority of his face, there were cuts and grazes on his arms and legs. His mask laid on the floor broken and shattered.

"Haru!" she shook him gently but it caused him to cough up more blood.

"Sakura…run…" he took one look at her and fell on her body.

"No! HARU!" she shook him furiously to try and wake him up but he remained still. She called out his name to get him back, but he remained lifeless. She began to cry.

"Oh dear…I was aiming for you but I suppose it's one less thing to bother with…" he smiled happily at her.

She laid him on the floor and slowly turned around to face him. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes furrowed at him. She stood up and clenched her fists glaring at the one named Zuchi.

"My, my…it seems that I've angered the little angel!" he laughed at her.

"You…I'll kill you!" she darted forward at him, he wasn't prepared for that and didn't see her coming. She took out her kunai and plunged at him, digging her kunai into his arm. He stepped backwards and glared at his bleeding arm while Sakura took out her shurikens and threw it at him. It lodged itself into his other arm and leg.

"I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!" she performed some hand seals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" two shadow clones of Sakura appeared on the left and right side of her. Each of them wielding a kunai in hand.

They dashed forward, one of them making an attempt to cut him but missed, the other came shortly after to hack their kunais into but missed at well.

He kicked one of them away and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Clever, clever little girl aren't you?" he leered at her. The mist was started to weight him down as it grew thicker.

'Damn this mist…' Zuchi thought to himself and began to devise a plan to get rid of the real Sakura, kicking another clone away and disappearing in another cloud of smoke.

"Let's see….which one is the real little angel?" there were two clones left, one on his left and on the right. The last one was further away and in the center.

"I know which one is the little angel." He kept his eye on the middle one and rushed forwards to her.

She jumped back to avoid the attack but he still managed to catch up to her. He jabbed his kunai into her abdomen and she groaned, slumping forwards. The other clones vanished in a puff of smoke. The mist was lifted.

* * *

'The mist is lifting…' Sasuke thought to himself. Neji stopped running forwards.

"Neji…"

"This is Sakura's technique…" he looked around with his Byakugan searching for her.

"So?"

"There are only two ways to dispel this technique…" he continued to search for a sign of Sakura and spotted Haru instead.

"Haru!" he ran forwards to check up on the hunter-nin.

"Haru?" he followed Neji and they soon reached him.

"He's the hunter-nin…" Neji spoke as he examined Haru with his Byakugan. Sasuke gasped.

'Haku!' Sasuke stepped back.

"He's still alive but barely…Haru…can you hear me?" he spoke gently to him. He slowly opened his eyes, they seemed so dull and lifeless. He opened his mouth to murmur out a name.

"Sakura…"

Without caring for the hunter-nin, he ran off in search of Sakura.

He ran, ran into any direction, ran in search of Sakura. He saw a figure that towered over a body, he stopped.

"Zuchi…" he growled out his name and the said person turned around with a smile on his face.

"Oh! How nice it is to see you again, but it's quite unfortunate that you came too late…" he stepped away.

Sasuke watched him, as he talked and as he walked away. He had a smirk on his face, and fearing what was to come, he slowly looked down at the form that laid of the floor.

"Sakura!"

* * *

Wahh! No! Sakura-Chan!

Sniff…sniff…Why am I so mean…sniff…

Please wait…until my…next update…sniff…

I intend on putting in Gaara with Sakura…somewhere…hopefully in the next chapter…I hope…


	9. The End of a Mission

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

**Previously…**

>Sasuke watched Zuchi, as he talked and as he walked away. He had a smirk on his face, and fearing what was to come, he slowly looked down at the form that laid of the floor.

>"Sakura!"

* * *

He took a shaky step forward to her limp body. As the seconds ticked by, his fear turned into anger as he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Zuchi laughed at the sight of his opponent's emotion.

"I can't believe you would care for such a weak little girl! You could do better than that, my friend…" he smirked at him.

"You…are not my friend…" he turned his hardened gaze onto him.

"Oh…I'm saddened by this…You break my heart…" he faked sadness.

"That…won't be the only thing I break!" he sprinted at him, filled with rage. He wanted to punch him, he wanted to kick him, strangle him with his bare hands and kill him.

Sasuke landed his fist right on his face and his other into his abdomen, using his momentum to bring him down to his knee and kick him in the guts.

It wasn't enough…he wanted him to bleed, bleed for Sakura.

Zuchi was impressed by his strength but his movement was agitated and made him predictable. He defended himself from Sasuke's relentless attacks until he brought up his hand too high for him to bring down quickly.

'There!' he drew his katana and stabbed him in the front. Sasuke froze, his face scrunched up in agony. Zuchi twisted his sword to the left and Sasuke groaned in pain and slumped to the floor.

"That was how I killed your angel, she was impressive for a while but then again, she wasn't the best…" he smirked down at Sasuke. Zuchi kicked him multiple times in the stomach, forcing him to cough up blood and cringe in pain.

When he was about to deliver the final blow, someone dealt a soft yet powerful blow to his back. Blood sprayed out of his mouth with violent effort.

"Alpha to Gamma…Abandon your position and head to the south west side…" Neji spoke into his ear piece.

"Gamma to Alpha…Understood." came Gaara's voice on the other side.

* * *

Sasuke hunched over on the ground, groaning and clutching onto his stomach as if it's about to fall off. He watched Neji with his Sharingan with a pained expression. He was about to force himself to get up when a cloud of sand appeared.

"Don't push yourself…" he said monotonously as he crossed his arms and stood casually.

Neji readied himself as Zuchi slowly recovered from the sudden shock. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he turned to face his new opponent.

"Great! A new plaything…I hope you'll do better than the raging boy and the pink angel…" he smirked at him.

"I wouldn't be smirking if I were you…I intend to finish this quickly…" he sneered at him.

"That's what they all say but look at them…" he pointed at Sasuke and Sakura.

'Sakura…' he looked over at her body. Upon close examination with his Byakugan he could tell that she was still alive but just barely. Her chakra was still flowing throughout her body but her heart rate was slow. Too slow to be healthy. Neji ran towards Zuchi with a purpose of killing him.

"Jyuukenhou Hakke Rokujyuu Yonshou!" he shouted as he jabbed his enemy multiple times on his body.

"Ni! Yon! Hachi! Jyuu roku! San jyuu ni! Roku jyuu yon!" he finished his attack with a devastating hit on his heart. As he fell backwards, a spray of blood was produced from his mouth. He dropped to the earth with a loud thud and continued to cough up blood violently. His labored breathing slowed as he finally took his last breath and departed the world of the shinobi.

"I never go back on my word…" he spoke as he leered at his dead body.

* * *

Sasuke crawled to her, slowly reaching out for Sakura's hand and held it. Neji and Gaara come over to them.

"Come on Sasuke…" Neji bent over and took Sasuke's hand, placing it over his shoulders, bringing him up to his feet.

"But…Sakura…" Sasuke's face was filled with pain and distress.

"Gaara can take care of her for now…" he dragged Sasuke away much to his dislike.

"Sakura…" he looked over his shoulders and saw Gaara picking her up with care, her body was limp and lifeless, her arms hanging over her sides and her head tipped back, allowing her bloodied pink hair to swing with the movement.

"Sakura…" he whispered.

* * *

Sasuke sat up on his bed, staring at his bandaged hands.

'I couldn't protect her…I nearly lost her again…' he thought solemnly.

It's been two days since the death of their leader Zuchi and no attacks have been sent, given that their guide was gone. It's been two days since he last heard Sakura's voice and it's been two days since he last saw her.

"Sakura…" he murmured out.

It was then Haru came limping into his room. His arms and legs were wrapped up, his face was half covered in bindings.

"Sorry to intrude…but Mizukage-Sama would like to see all of you…" he bowed his head to him.

"But…Sakura…" he stared at him.

"Sakura has just woken up…would you like me to bring you to her…" he looked up at him when he heard the rustling of bed sheets.

"I can go by myself…" he said as he put on his slippers. Once he was done, he walked up to the door but stopped just beside Haru.

"Are you related to Haku…?" Sasuke asked.

"Haku?" he questioned him.

"Never mind…" he walked off.

* * *

"Sakura, are you sure about this…you shouldn't force yourself since you just woke up and all…" the sand-nin asked the pink haired girl.

"I'll be ok." She smiled at him and it warmed his heart. His eyes softened at her voice and grin.

She tied her hair back and slowly put on her slippers. She got up from her bed but she felt faint and nearly fell over but Gaara caught her.

"Are you ok? Are you still hurt? Do you want me to get a doctor in here? Do you want to rest a little bit longer? Should I-" she placed her finger on his mouth to shut him up from his questions.

"I'm ok and I'm not hurt that much anymore. I don't need a doctor and I don't need anymore rest. But you can carry me if you want." She smiled at him as he blushed.

"I…I didn't…I mean…it's…" he stammered over his words and she giggled at him.

"You're so cute when you do that!" she punched him playfully on his arm.

"Hey…that actually hurts you know…" the corners of his lips tugged up to a small smile and she noticed.

"I think you look good when you smile…" she tilted her head at him.

"Don't make me do that again." He went back to his trademark smirk.

"Aw…a little anti-social aren't you…" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Excuse me?" he sneered at her as he picked her up to his shoulder none too gently.

"Hey! Put me down! Gaara! Hey! No fair!" she playfully whacked his back and laughed at him.

As they walked out the door, Sakura spotted Sasuke walking down the same hall.

"Hey Sasuke! We're off to see Mizukage-Sama!" she waved at him while he just stared speechless at her.

"…?" he continued to look at her until he realized that she was being carried.

"Come on Sasuke!" she gestured for him to walk with them but he glared at Gaara's back who refused to look at him.

"Hi Haru!" she waved at him too.

"Hello…" he walked along side Sasuke who nodded in acknowledgement.

"…" he glared daggers at Gaara's back and Haru noticed.

"You've got competition…" he whispered into Sasuke's ear.

"What!" he stopped and stared thunderstruck at Haru who just smiled back.

"Better watch out! He's not the only one interested about Sakura." Haru smiled cheekily at him. Down the hall Sakura sneezed.

"Bless you…" he smirked at her.

"Hehe! Someone must have missed me! I wonder who! Do you think it's Naruto?" she grinned at him.

"I don't know…"

* * *

"ACHOO!" Naruto sniffed.

"Bless you…" Kakashi said to him as he read his book.

"Hehe. Someone must really miss me! Hahaha!" he laughed at himself while Kakashi just sweat-dropped.

* * *

Thanks to everybody who reviewed neh! It's sooo very much appreciated! You're my motivation! My inspiration! Well…not so much inspiration but the motivation is there! Wahahaha!

Ah! Not much Gaara and Sakura here! Nooo! I was hoping to put heaps of Sakura and Gaara in here! I'll try harder next time! Forgive me! (voice fades as she runs off...)


	10. Feelings of the Heart, a Confession

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

"Ah! We've made it back! I can finally take a decent shower!" she laughed at herself.

"Hey! I'll catch you guys later! Bye!" she waved and ran off to her house.

"I'll report to Hokage-Sama…" Neji walked off to the office.

"…" Gaara and Sasuke stood there by the main gates staring at everything but at each other, arms crossed and hands in pockets.

"Do you…" Sasuke started but someone interrupted.

"SASUKE-BAKA!" Naruto screamed out and pointed at him.

"What is it…Naruto…" he stared back at him.

"You totally left without telling us!" he pointed and shouted at him until he realized something.

"Hey…you didn't call me dope…" he smiled slightly but it became unnerving for Sasuke so he decided to leave.

"Hey! I'm not done yet!" he shouted at him again.

"Naruto…I'm too tired right now…Later…" he waved and walked off slowly.

"…Mou…looks as if someone just kicked him in the guts…" he pouted his lips and squinted his eyes.

"…You have no idea, Naruto…" he watched Sasuke's retreating figure into the moving crowds of the villagers.

"Wanna get something to eat!" he laughed at him.

"Hn…" he closed his eyes as he walked by the loud shinobi to his favorite restaurant, Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

"Hey Gaara-Kun! Hi!" she waved as she ran up to him. Her pink hair flying behind her as she scampered up to the red head.

"Hey…" he replied to her with a hint of emotion.

"Hey! Where are you going now? I just had a good shower! I feel so refreshed!" she emphasized that by stretching out her arms.

"Going…nowhere…" he didn't know where he was going, he just went where his legs would take him.

"Great! Let's go somewhere!" she took his arm into hers and she dragged him away unaware of where they would be going.

"Where are we going?" he asked her with questioning eyes.

"Hm…Let's go watch the clouds neh!" she smiled at him as she continued to pull him down the streets of Konoha.

'This is different…She makes me feel different…As if I had something I never knew I had…Why can I only experience this with her?' he thought to himself as he allowed for her to heave him around.

'She brings out the best in me…' he smiled at her, but it was quite unfortunate that she missed it.

* * *

"Ah…This is so good…having to relax and all…" she stretched herself out on the soft, green grass.

The day was good, it wasn't too sunny and it wasn't too cloudy either. It was perfect.

"Perfect…" she smiled as she looked up at the clouds and then she realized that he wasn't sitting beside her.

"Hey, come here!" she gestured for him to come closer and so he did.

"Sit down here, right beside me!" she grinned at him as she patted at the vacant space beside her.

He took a seat beside her after taking off the gourd on his back.

"Isn't it good to relax every once in a while? And isn't it nice to take that little load off your back?" she asked him while he played with the flower beside her.

"Little is hardly an adequate word for it…" he sweat-dropped.

"Well, the way you carry it makes it seem so light and almost weightless." She smiled and tilted her head in a cute manner.

'She's cute when she does that…' he blushed a bit but he decided to look away before she noticed.

"What was that for?" she asked him, tilting to the other side, he blushed more.

"What was what for…" he murmured out as he stared at the grass.

"That blush! Don't think I didn't see it!" she poked him gently on his arm.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" he looked up at the clouds.

"Of course you know! Now tell me why you were blushing! Come on!" she nudged him gently.

"…" he looked down again, playing around with the grass.

'Is he nervous?' she thought to herself watching his every movement.

"Sakura…" he started but stopped before he got too far.

"What is it? You can tell me." She smiled at him, allowing him to fell more relaxed.

"Sakura…I…I think…" he stopped himself again. He looked vulnerable, innocent like a child.

'He's confused…' she frowned slightly.

"You can tell me…" she held onto his hand and he blushed more.

"I think…I think…" he sighed.

"What is it?" she smiled gently at him and cocked her head to the side.

"I think I'm in love with you!" he said it a little too loudly but closed his eyes while he shouted it out. Sakura gapped at what he just said.

'He confessed his feelings to me?' she thought to herself as she remembered something similar happening with Sasuke.

**Flashback…**

"_What's with you Sasuke! It's not like I can't hang out with other people you know!" Sakura's hands were on her hips her pink brows furrowed._

"_But why did you hang out with them! Neji nearly killed Hinata once and Gaara's killed more people than we can ever count!" he clenched his hand and his knuckles grew white._

"_Why do you even care!" she screamed at him and Naruto jumped at her voice._

"_Because I love you!" Sasuke was quiet now, unsure why he just confessed his love to her when he never knew what love was to begin with._

"…_!" Sakura was shocked and so was Naruto, he stood there just gaping at him._

"…" _Sasuke looked away not wanting to look at her._

"_You…What do you mean?" she looked at him, she tried to look into his eyes but he avoided her gaze._

"_Sasuke…tell me..."she tried again but he continued to look away from her._

_Sasuke gritted his teeth and in his confusion and frustration he turned and walked off._

"_Sasuke! Wait!" she called out to him but he refused to stop, he refused to look back._

_Naruto watched him walk away from them. Growing more and more concern for the raven haired boy and his former crush._

"_What just happened? Naruto?" she spoke in a quiet voice, her eyes never left Sasuke's back._

**End flashback…**

Unsure of what to do or to even say, he took her silence and lack of movement as a sign of rejection. He felt his heart crack and break into little pieces and sub-consciously grabbed onto the fabric that covered his heart. He turned around, not wanting to face her, but spoke all the same.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have told you…" he slowly picked himself up from the ground but Sakura held onto his sleeve. He still didn't want to look at her, in fear of losing control over his emotions and letting Shukaku get the better of him.

"Gaara…" she began but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about me…I've been rejected before…it's nothing new…" he spoke softly with a hint of betrayal hidden in his voice. She gripped onto his sleeve harder as he tried to move off again.

"Gaara…" she took a deep breathe and began again.

"If you want…we could give it a go neh?" she cocked her head to the side and smiled at him.

"…I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do…" he looked at her, eyes filled with confusion, hurt and hope.

"You're not forcing me to do anything…I'm willing if you are." She looked at him gently, trying to identify all the emotions going through his eyes.

For the first time in his life, he felt truly happy. And he gave her an honest smile and she smiled back at him. Reaching forward for her waist, he pulled her into a small embrace.

"Thank you…for giving me a chance…" he closed his eyes to savor the feeling and moment. Hopeful that it might last forever, wanting each and every moment to be imprinted into his head.

"Everybody deserves a chance." She too, closed her eyes as she hugged him back. The minutes passed by, the sun was setting and the color of the sky was changing. The wind blew at them and the grass as they stayed that way, enjoying the moment together, enjoying the silence.

* * *

Yawn! I'm so sleepy…but its' daylight savings so my body alarm clock has gone bonkers! Wahaha! So it's saying it's 11 o'clock but it's actually 12 midnight…so yea…Yawn yawn!

Look how dedicated I am to you! I stayed up all night for this! You should be happy! (glares daggers at you)

Anyways…I'll be off now…laters and until next time!


	11. A visitor to Konoha

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Ah! Thanks to absolutely everybody who reviewed this fic! I'm so happy! (hugs everybody!) Sorry about the short little paragraphs but I don't know how to fix that but I'll try my best neh!

* * *

"EH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Sakura screamed out and pointed at the new visitor of Konoha. 

"…I thought that you'll be happy to see me…or smile at the very least..." he sweat-dropped.

"Well, yea I guess it's a surprise…but what are you doing here?" she cocked her head to the side.

"I'm here to thank Hokage-Sama on behalf of Mizukage-Sama." He stuffed his hands into his pocket.

"Oh! I see, but what about your village? Doesn't it need help with repairs and that?" she said as she looked up at the sky.

"Mizukage-Sama said that I could take a break from my duties for a while, so when I go back, I'll be refreshed." He smiled at her.

"Oh! That's great! If you want, I can take you around town as soon as you're done with thanking Hokage-Sama of course!" she smiled as she clasped her hands together.

"That'll be very much appreciated." He bowed to her.

"Hey, no need to bow to me! We're friends right? Too much manners for my tastes!" she laughed and he joined her.

"I guess it's out of habit!" he scratched his head.

"Yea but at least you've got manners unlike somebody I know…" she smiled as she thought of Naruto and his rudeness.

"Who's that?" he asked out of curiosity.

"You'll meet him later, he's really loud." She smiled as she remembered memories of him.

"Will you be seeing Hokage-Sama now, Haru-kun?" she smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Yea…What shall we do later?" he shifted the bag on his back to make it more comfortable.

"Well…do you have a place to stay? I've got a guest room if you want."

"That would be great."

"Let's go then!" she dragged him into the direction of the office.

* * *

"Yes Hokage-Sama…Thank you for your help and everything that you've done for us…" he bowed to her once more before exiting the room. 

Once he got out of the room, he let out a long sigh. He felt extremely tired from the trip he made to get here. He never expected to bump into Konoha exiled-nins along the way but luckily for him, hunter-nins from Konoha came as well, so he was able to get away without too much of a fight. Letting out another sigh after that thought, he made his way down the hall. His steps echoing in the corridor as his thoughts turned to a pink haired girl. It made him smile just thinking about it. As he neared the exit, the sunlight shone on the floor and he could see her shadow just by the doorway.

"Hey…" he smiled at her.

"Hi Haru-Kun. Let's go to my place and we'll drop your things off there then I'll take you around town." She cocked her head to the side.

"Sure."

They walked side by side with each other as they talked about trivial things such as the weather, favorite foods and such. They didn't notice someone watching them as they talked.

'What is he doing back here…' he thought to himself as he raced off into the other direction.

"…Huh?" she turned to the direction where she felt the small burst of chakra come from.

"What is it Sakura-San?" he watched her as she continued to look for the now hidden source.

"Hm…I guess it was just my imagination…Don't worry about it neh!" she waved it off with her hand as she continued to walk to her house.

* * *

"Here we are! Welcome to my humble abode." She exaggerated it by bowing with one hand in front and the other at the back. 

"Uh…Thanks." He scratched his head.

"Come on. I'll show you to your room and then we'll get something to eat!" she ran up the stairs to the second floor of the house and he followed behind her.

"Why are you so excited for?" he raised an eyebrow at her as they reached the room. It was quite spacious, there was a window leading to the outside world, as well as a desk and a cupboard in the right corner and a bed near the door.

"I don't think I need this much room…" he looked around the room.

"It's no problem! This room was free anyway!" she smiled happily at him as she went back out of the room.

"Come on! I wanna get going for lunch!"

"You sound as if you're going to meet someone…" he spoke as he dropped his bag by his temporary bed.

"Yea! I'm gonna eat lunch with Gaara-Kun!" she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Gaara? Which one is that?"

"The guy with the red hair, he's actually from Suna but he got transferred here instead. He's got a sister and a brother too but they're back in Suna so yea." he sweat-dropped as she talked very excitedly about him.

"Uh…"

"And he's got a demon in him too, you know the Shukaku. That little beast of burden…If it was out here I'll strangle it…but that's too bad since it's living inside of Gaara, but I guess I understand him and all that so I don't mind it that much at all…" she sighed at the thought of Gaara suffering for the cause of his own village that transferred him here in the first place.

"Uh…"

"And he's really powerful too! He uses his sand most of the time as defense and offense but he also does Genjutsu and Taijutsu too but mainly Ninjutsu since it's his specialty…" she continued to talk as they walked out of the door.

"Uh…"

"And also he makes a good sparring partner! If you want you can challenge him but you won't come out without a few scratches or so but that's him. Even if you do hit him, you'll probably end up hitting his Armor of sand instead which protects him whole body from any harm so that's really convenient I think and also-"

"Ok! I get it, I get it! You really like him! I get it!" his eye twitched.

"Well…it's not that I like him, but it's not like I don't like him either…and we're also really good friends…and…" she blushed and started looking at her feet instead.

"Right…" he stared at her with mild amusement.

"I can't believe you find this funny!" she punched him and when he wouldn't stop laughing at her, she continued to assault him the way she did Naruto.

"HEY! STOP LAUGHING AT ME!"

* * *

"Gaara-Kun! Hey!" she waved excitedly as she ran up to him. 

"Hi." He smiled a little bit.

"Hey ho!" she hugged his arm and it made him blush.

"So! Where do you wanna go Gaara-Kun?" she held onto his arm tighter and it made him blush more.

"…" he turned a darker shade of pink.

"Gaara-Kun…" she said almost dreamily.

"…" he turned a darker shade of red

"Gaara-Kun?" she looked up at him, his face red like the color of his hair.

"I'm…overheating…" he dropped to the floor.

"Gaara-Kun!" she started to wave her hands at him, to try and cool him down.

Haru watched everything and sweat-dropped.

"Nice...couple…" he said to himself.

* * *

"Are you feeling better now Gaara-Kun?" she looked over at him as they sat under a shaded bench in the park. 

"Better…" he spoke as the corners of his lips lifted a bit.

In the distance not too far away, they could see Haru walking over to them with cool drinks in hand.

"Hey, got you the drinks you wanted." He handed one over to Sakura then to Gaara, who placed it on his head as soon as he received it.

"Thank you…"

"Arigatou!" she shouted out happily to him. She opened up the can and took a sip. He took a seat on the other side of Sakura.

"Yummy. I love apple!" she smiled as she continued to sip at her drink. Haru watched her silently from the corner of his eye, occasionally shifting glances from Sakura to Gaara.

"You guys still up for lunch?" she asked as she looked at them from left to right.

"Yes I guess so." Haru tilted his head in thought. She got up and threw away the now empty can.

"I wouldn't mind…" he said while still holding up the drink to his head.

"Great! Now Let's go!" she dragged them out of the park to the first restaurant they could find, which happened to be Ichiraku Ramen…

* * *

Man…personally…I think this chapter sucks…and I'm open for any opinions right now…or requests even…Please…I beg you…INSPIRE ME! WAHAHAHAA! 

…right…so anyways…till tomorrow then…


	12. A mission of Sand

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Thanks to Sakura Kage for that wonderful idea! And here is it! Wahahaha!

* * *

"What!" Gaara shouted out as he took a step back.

"You heard what I said…And besides, they need you." Tsunade looked up from the scroll she just read out to Gaara.

"I don't care if they freaking need me! They threw me in this village in the first place! Why the hell should I go back!" he huffed out as he was very much out of breath.

"It is my duty as Hokage to send aid, and since you are part if Konoha and Suna, then you'll have to go. But don't worry, you can take Sakura with you too." She smirked at him.

"Wha? What's S-Sakura got anything to do with this?" he stumbled on his words as his face reddened just a teeny bit.

"Everything Gaara-Kun…absolutely everything…" she smirked evilly at him.

'Now, I know what Naruto feels when he's been given a mission by Tsunade…Old Hag…' he thought to himself, visibly twitching just a bit.

"And here she comes!" she smiled at him, and just as she said it, the door flung open with Sakura on the other side.

"Hey!" she smiled at them.

"Hello Sakura-Chan." She smiled back.

"Hey Gaara-Kun! What are you doing here?" she walked up next to him.

"I was uh…" he began only to be cut off by Tsunade.

"He was about to accept a mission back to Suna to help his poor defenseless little country…" she pouted her lips adding effect to what she said.

"Really? Can I go too? I wanna go to Suna! I've never been there before! Is it nice Gaara? O f course it's nice since you came from there! Hahahaha!" she laughed at herself as Gaara's eye twitched.

'She's overly excited about this…' he slouched.

"So what do you say Gaara-Kun?" Tsunade placed her chin on her hand smiling just a little devilishly at him.

"I…" he was about to decline but Sakura said otherwise.

"Oh please, please, please Gaara-Kun! You have to take me there! Pretty Please…" she pouted her lips and clasped both her hands in front of her with an almost teary-eyed face.

"I…accept…" he groaned inwardly.

"Great! Here's your scroll and you can take Neji, Sasuke and Haru with you too! The Mizukage has already consulted to me giving Haru this mission since we're allies and all." She smiled at them as she handed the scroll over to Gaara which Sakura happily took for him.

"Yay! We've got another mission together isn't that great Gaara-Kun." She smiled cheerfully at him. He didn't feel all that good about going to back to Suna but seeing her excited about it, he didn't want her to be upset. So he decided to accept the mission, for the sake of making her happy.

"Come on! Let's go tell the others about this!" she dragged him out of the door as Tsunade smiled at them.

* * *

"A what?" the raven haired boy spoke.

"A mission! Isn't it great? We're gonna be fighting together again! Yes!" she punched the air. Neji smirked at her while leaning on a nearby wall and Haru smiled at her.

"When will we be leaving…?" Neji asked as he turned to face her.

"I don't know!" she laughed nervously at herself as she scratched the back of her head. Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"We'll leave as soon as we're ready to go…" Gaara spoke in a very depressed manner.

"Mou…Gaara-Kun, you don't sound happy to go back home…think of it as…going over to visit your siblings!" she smiled at him.

"…Ok…" he sighed in defeat.

"Right then! I'm going to pack! Come on Haru!" she yanked him out of the chair he was previously sitting on and dashed straight on home.

"See you guys later!" she yelled out dragging behind a staggering Haru.

* * *

"Hey guys!" she shouted out as she ran up to Neji, Gaara and Sasuke who were already at the gates.

She and Haru reached the gateway but they never received a greeting.

"Don't tell me I'm late again am I?" she looked at them.

They were involved in a staring competition…More like glaring actually…Gaara's arms were crossed, Sasuke's hands were in his pockets and Neji was standing firmly on the ground.

"Uh…Guys?" she sweat-dropped.

"Why don't we go over the checklist while they're busy with each other?" Haru spoke up from behind Sakura.

"…" Gaara and Neji did a sweat-dropped but Sasuke's eye twitched.

"Passports?" Haru looked through his bag while Sakura did the same.

"Check!"

"Weapons?" he said as he checked for his holster bag on his thigh and pouch.

"Check!"

"Provisions for the trip? Mainly water." he took out his bottle and Sakura did the same.

"Check!"

"How about the coats to protect us from the sandstorms and such?" he took out his coat as well as Sakura.

"I got mine!" she smiled at him.

"Great! Then we're ready. What about you guys?" he looked over at them.

They weren't glaring at each other anymore, but Neji and Sasuke looked through their packs.

"I forgot my coat…" Sasuke looked up and walked to his house.

"I forgot it too…" Neji walked the opposite direction of Sasuke.

"…I don't need a coat…" Gaara simply stated.

"Ok. We'll wait right here for them then!" she smiled as she sat on the floor, awaiting the return of Neji and Sasuke. And as soon as they came into view Sakura chose this moment to shout out, "YOU'RE LATE!"

"Let's go…" Gaara began to walk into the direction of his home village with Sakura, Haru, Neji and Sasuke following closely behind.

* * *

"Oh my gosh! It's sooo hot! I must have lost like 5 kg's in this desert!" Sakura waved her hand in front of her face.

"I wish I brought a fan with me! And this coat is making me feel hotter!" she sighed.

Even though they said nothing as they drank, Neji, Haru and Sasuke agreed with her. Gaara wasn't concerned with the heat, in fact he was better off than the others.

"I'm sweating buckets here and you're acting as if it's nothing!" she shouted out at Gaara, pouting her lips at him.

"It is nothing…" he turned and smirked at her who glared back at him.

"We're nearly there…don't worry." Gaara continued to move forward as the scorching sun's rays hammered down on them.

"I didn't say I was worried…" she pouted her lips at him again.

'Sure you didn't…' he thought sarcastically to himself.

* * *

As they neared the Hidden Village of Suna, they could see the faint outlines of the village swaying in the distance due to the sweltering heat. They didn't encounter any sandstorms or hostile ninjas along the way so it was a pretty easy but hot trip.

"We've finally made it!" Sakura shouted out as she ran under some shade.

"Ah…This feels so good…" she sighed and the other guys joined her not including Gaara.

"I'll report to Kazekage-Sama while you guys go find the apartment or whatever…" he started to walk off but Sakura held him back.

"But why can't we stay with your siblings? I'm sure they wouldn't mind much." She spoke as he stared at her.

"No…"

"But Gaara!" she flung him arm down with a bit of force.

"I said no…" he started to walk off again but somebody held him back again. This time it wasn't Sakura.

"Gaara?" the blonde girl looked at him in disbelief.

"…" he looked away from her.

"It is you. Haven't seen you in a while now have I?" she smiled nervously at him.

'Still afraid of me I see…nothing ever changes…Why did I bother to come?' he sighed at her.

The girl let go of Gaara's hand and turned to face the other girl, this time with a stern look on her face.

"What are you doing here? And who are you?" she asked staring at each of them with a scornful look.

'She looks familiar…' Sakura thought to herself.

"We're here to assist Gaara in helping the village…" Sakura replied while returning the other girl's disrespectful look.

"We asked for Gaara, not you weaklings…especially you…" she sneered at Sakura.

'Ah…the girl from the chounin exams…that's right…' Sakura thought as she sneered back at her.

"You're trip here was for nothing, you might as well go back, we never asked for your-" she was cut off by Gaara.

"Temari…shut up…" he walked off to the office.

"G-Gaara!" she ran off to join him.

"I change my mind…Let's go find an apartment. The sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we can get the hell out of this heat." She stomped off looking around for a place to stay.

* * *

"Gaara! We just asked for you to come back! Why are these people here? Doesn't Hokage trust you to come alone or whatever?" she shouted half-heartedly at him. He stopped walking.

"I asked them to come with me…I didn't want to stay in this village with people like you." He turned and sneered at her. It made her cower a bit.

"I didn't want to come, but it was my duty as a ninja to accept any missions given to me by the Hokage or Kazekage…Understood? Now leave me alone…I don't want to see you or Kankurou's face." He spun around and walked off leaving behind a shocked and horrified blonde.

* * *

"It's nice to have our trump card back here, ever since you left, we've had some trouble with Sound and other enemy villagers, but since you've returned we can relax a little bit and scare off some people!" he joked nervously with Gaara but he just stared back at him.

The former Kazekage (Gaara's father) was replaced with another suitable shinobi of the sand. Although, he isn't exactly like the previous Kazekage, he still did a fairly good job.

"Right…Um…you may go now." He laughed nervously as he scratched his head.

"Yes Kazekage…" he bowed stiffly and left the room.

As he walked down the corridor, he passed by a few people of the village.

"Oh my god…what is he doing back here?" one of them whispered to the other.

"I don't know but I hope he leaves soon…" the other replied back.

As he turned down to another corridor, he passed by another group of people from the village.

"What the…I heard rumors about him being back but I never thought it was true…" a tall one whispered to his friend.

"Yea…I know we had some trouble with the Sound…but Kazekage-Sama didn't have to bring him back here…" his friend whispered back.

Gaara felt annoyed with the hush whispers. They think he wouldn't be able to hear them, but they were dead wrong…literally and figuratively. Letting out an intimidating smirk, he left the bloody hall behind for someone to clean up.

As he walked out from the shade and into the sun, he heard more hushed whispers but decided to ignore them for the sake of not letting Shukaku go on a rampage and maybe end up hurting Sakura instead. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let Shukaku get the better of him, he didn't want it to hurt Sakura. Especially Sakura.

Getting fed up with the unwanted attention, he summoned up his sand to take him to where the others were.

"Hi Gaara! How did it go? I made you something to eat! Sit down over here!" she sat him down on the chair of their rented complex and he stared into his bowl of noodles thoughtfully.

"It's not ramen don't worry! But it's chicken, since you didn't object to chicken last time at Ichiraku so I thought that it'll be ok." She smiled at him, making his troubles go away.

"Thank you…" he picked up the chopsticks she gave to him and said, "Itadakimasu…"

At the far end of the room, there stood a watchful Neji with arms crossed and a brooding look. Sasuke who was leaning on the window sill watched them from the corner of his eye. And Haru sat on the couch and silently observed their behavior with an unknown emotion written all over his face.

Tension was rising, but it wasn't because of the upcoming war with Sound and Sand…It was an emotional war with four boys and a girl whose attention they most desperately want but can't have.

Sharing was totally out of the question.

* * *

What a great way to end the chapter! WAHAHAHA! Again, thanks to Sakura Kage for this idea and I'll be working on it! Till next chapter! 


	13. Three loves and only one Sakura

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…and an unknown factor…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

Haru…

* * *

Thanks to Hao'sAnjul for offering and I very much appreciate it! So I'll go do that if I ever do run out of ideas which are kinda…quite often so yea! Expect an email from me in a few days time neh! And also thanks to Kurai for a great idea! Read on!

* * *

"Ok…Gaara, you take the west side of the village…Haru, take the south side, Sasuke can take the east side and I'll take the north side. Sakura will take the center." Neji spoke as he pointed to each of their positions on the map of the village.

"We will communicate through these. Gaara will be Gamma and Haru will be Theta. Sasuke will be Sigma and I'll be Alpha. Sakura is Delta while all of us as a group will be Omega…" Speaking again as he handed out the ear pieces.

"Any questions?" Neji looked up at each of them and Haru raised his hand.

"Yea…Why are you always the leader?" he smiled at him as they sweat-dropped.

"Right…let's move out then…"

"What about my question!"

* * *

"Delta to Omega…reporting in on position…nothing out of the ordinary so far…over…" she heard a buzz from the other side.

"Theta to Omega…nothing interesting out here…over…" she could hear him yawn on the other side.

"Sigma to Omega…nothing to report…over…" his voice sounded bored.

"Gamma to Omega…nothing to account for…over…" he sounded indifferent.

"Alpha to Omega…a possible Sound enemy spotted…moving in for closer examination…over…"

* * *

Neji moved along the crowd of the village, keeping an eye on the suspect. He seemed suspicious enough to make someone think he was involved in prohibited issues. He glanced around a lot, always looking to see if anybody followed him, always checking the alleys or streets for any unwanted company. But this person didn't know he was being followed by the Byakugan.

"Alpha to Omega…this person seems suspicious…I will continue to follow him unless otherwise…over…"

Neji looked through the building and spotted his target, he was still glancing around nervously and entered another building of some sort. It was in an alley covered by a few bins here and there. It was dark and hard to find. Using his Byakugan again, he took a glimpse behind a door and gasped as he realized what he just found.

* * *

Sakura made another yawn, it was the fifth one in five minutes already. She sat down at the edge of the fountain in the center of the village. Supposedly the heart of the village since it's the only pretty thing around the whole place, nothing but sand and dust. But it was thankful that it wasn't windy today. She didn't want to have a mouth full of sand or to wear her coat on such a hot day. The heat, she could handle at least a little.

"Alpha to Omega…I've found something and it's not good…" she heard Neji's voice from the other side and then Gaara's.

"Gamma to Alpha...notify us your position so we can meet you there…"

"Alpha to Gamma…negative…I just want Delta to come…two is enough…"

'Me? Why me!' she started to panic but replied with a firm voice, but inwardly screaming her head off.

"Delta to Alpha…inform me of your position…over…" she stood up from her seat and looked around the crowd.

"Alpha to Delta, I'm in the dark alley way north east of your position. I'll give you five minutes to get here or I'll move in without you…over…"

"Roger that, coming your way now."

* * *

She dashed through the streets looking for the alley way that Neji spoke of, but almost all of them were identical as well as dark so she tried to sense his chakra instead.

"Alpha to Delta…your time is up, I'm going in…" she heard his voice on the other side and she panicked

"WAIT! I'm almost there." She skidded to a stop at a shadowy pass where she felt his chakra the strongest.

"I'm here…" she panted out.

"Good…I was about to go in without you…" he smirked at her.

"You totally made me rush for nothing!" she breathed heavily.

"No, I made you rush because our targets are about to move off…" he looked blankly at her.

"Fine, let's go…" Sakura moved up to the door beside Neji. He used his Byakugan to check inside for any signs of people and seeing none he made a curt nod to Sakura, he slowly opened the door and walked right through, she followed closely behind.

Down on of the corridors, they could hear voices from behind one of the doors, but they soon turned into hushed whispers. Sakura leaned closer to hear the voices better while Neji used his blood limit ability.

* * *

"Are you sure it's safe in here, I mean, we're right in the middle of the village for goodness sake. What if somebody finds us?" one of the men whispered harshly to their leader.

"I highly doubt that…their village would be the last place they would ever look in…" he said with a cocky tone.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you…" they abruptly turned to see who intruded their meeting as Neji stepped into the room from the shadows and Sakura followed behind him.

"Ichuji-Sama! What are we gonna do!" one of his men panicked.

"Shut up and dispose of them, they're gonna be a nuisance to our plans if anybody else finds out." He gestured to a group of his supporters to attack them.

They dug around their pouches for a kunai or shuriken and threw it at Neji quite clumsily who was able to dodge them with much ease. Another group came forward to Sakura and made a move to slash her with their kunai but she jumped away before they got too close to her. When she was far enough from them, she performed a few hand seals and took a deep breath.

'Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!' she shouted out in her head and blew out jets of fire at her opponents, directly hitting them square in the face but only to drop on the floor as sand.

"Suna Bunshin no Jutsu?" she spoke to herself and she suddenly felt another presence behind her. She turned to see a kunai come at her and ducked just in time. Collecting chakra at her feet, she dashed forward to the enemy with a kunai in hand, he brought up his own kunai but she was too fast for him so she pierced his abdomen. He groaned and fell to the floor with a thud.

Sensing an attack from behind, she summoned up the sand on the floor to protect her. Almost instantly, the followers of Ichuji panicked at the sight of the sand protecting her.

"Ichji-Sama! Gaara's here! What are we gonna do!" one of the men shouted out with a terrified voice.

'They're afraid of Gaara?' she saw this as an opportunity to take control of the fight and summoned up the sand to attack them while they were still distracted. The sand rushed towards them and pushed them to the ground. Ichuji sensed something different.

"It's not Gaara you idiots! It's just the girl!" he shouted as he pointed at Sakura. The group that was in charge of killing Sakura became very frustrated with her.

"We won't let you getaway with that stupid trick of yours!" they covered up their fear with false bravado and ran towards while throwing shurikens at her, which was absorbed by the sand as it came to protect her.

They couldn't help but flinch when they saw how the sand reacted, but still made an effort to get rid of her quickly.

"You guys are pathetic! Get rid of them quickly before they call for back-ups you idiots!" Ichuji shouted out at his men, growing more and more irritated with the way they fought. Just at that moment, he heard someone shouted at nothing and turned to see Neji smirking at him having disposed of the group in charge of getting rid of him, as he talked into his ear piece, telling the people on the other side where they were.

"NO!"

* * *

"Alpha to Omega! We're in a dark alley in the north east sector! Sense out our chakra and get here now!"

Hearing that, they rushed into the direction Neji gave them and tried to sense their chakra as well. Within minutes, they made it to the destination and barged through the doors and down the corridors. When they got their, Sakura was still busy with her own group but Neji was standing there watching the other intently.

"Damn it…" Ichuji cursed himself silently.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" they heard Sakura shout out and two of the men attacking her fell to the group with a thud.

"One more to go…" she panted out and was about to stab the last one when sand enveloped him and crush him, sending drops of his blood everywhere and some landed on Sakura as well. She turned and saw Gaara and smiled even though she was partly covered in blood. But then her smile disappeared when she realized it was him who just kill her last opponent.

"Excuse me but that guy was mine! And now you got me all over in blood! Yuck! No doing that again!" she pouted at him and placed her hands on her hips. She looked over to Neji who was busy with Ichuji.

"…no choice…" Ichuji whispered to himself.

"I've got a bunch of useless ninjas…no matter…we'll meet again next time…" Ichuji performed a couple of hand seals and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hey! We just totally missed him!" Haru spoke up.

"It doesn't matter…they left some information behind…" Neji addressed to a table of scrolls and maps.

"I see…" Sasuke stepped forward to the table unaware that Gaara was wiping off some blood from Sakura's face.

"This is sooo disgusting…I got some strangers blood on my face and clothes! This sucks…" she pouted her lips in disgust.

"Sorry…" Gaara smiled gently at her and she smiled back.

'Did he just smile? And not maniacally too?' Sasuke thought to himself as Neji moved up to the desk as well.

"We should report this to Kazekage-Sama…this could prove helpful to us…" Neji said as he picked up a scroll and scanned through it.

"It seems like they were planning to attack in waves…at least ten waves to weaken sand defense and then 5 waves to go offence…" Neji picked up another scroll.

"Attack is in…three months…" he scowled as he lowered the scroll.

"Come on…let's go…" Neji spoke as he picked up some scrolls. While Sasuke and Haru did the same.

* * *

"I see…thank you for telling me…I shall inform the available ninjas about this and also Hokage-Sama…" he placed the scroll on the table and looked up at Neji.

"…" he bowed in respect and walked out of the door, with the others following behind them.

"So…I'm guessing we have to stay longer than we expected right?" Sakura asked Neji.

"Most likely…we have to stay until we are not needed anymore or until our objective is reached…" Neji let out a small sigh and walked off to their apartment.

"Let's go get something to eat after we clean up neh?" she smiled hoping to maybe make them slightly happier.

"I suppose we could do that…" Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pocket and followed Neji.

"I bet you would want to use the shower first?" Haru smiled at her.

"Like hell yea!" she laughed and Haru joined in.

"I think your hair looks nice with a bit of red in it…" Gaara said monotonously.

"Of course I do! I look good in absolutely anything!" she laughed out loud as she walked off to their apartment dragging Haru and Gaara behind her.

* * *

"Sakura…I need to speak with you…" Neji came up to her.

"Ok sure." She smiled as she got up from her seat by the window sill.

"Not here…" he furrowed his eyebrows in thought and looked at Sakura for approval.

"Ok, where shall we go?" she smiled at Neji who blushed just slightly.

"…The stars are out tonight…" he said conversationally.

"Let's go watch the stars then." She smiled and pulled him out of the window and up to the roof. Just then, Gaara came into the room but saw that it was empty.

"…I thought Sakura was in here…" he shrugged and looked into another room.

* * *

"Wow…it's so pretty up here. I hardly go out and look at the stars anymore…" she looked up at the sky and Neji could see the reflection of the stars in her eyes.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" she smiled at him as she cocked her head to the side.

"Well, I…" he thought hard about what to say.

* * *

"Sakura?" Gaara looked into her room but she wasn't there.

"Where is she…" he scratched his head.

* * *

"What is it?"

"It's…I…" he stuttered out which made Sakura worry.

'He never stutters like that…' she thought to herself, her expression growing concerned.

* * *

"Sakura?" he looked back and forth out the door of the halls and didn't see ay signs of her.

"Hm…" he decided to sense out her chakra and followed to wherever it led him.

* * *

"What is it Neji-Kun?"

Unsure of what to say, he decided to go for actions. He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her forwards and kissed her.

"…!" her eyes widened but she was too shocked to push him away. He broke the kiss after a while.

"I think I've fallen in love with you, Sakura…" Neji spoke but still holding onto her wrist. She gasped.

**Flashback…**

"_What's with you Sasuke! It's not like I can't hang out with other people you know!" Sakura's hands were on her hips her pink brows furrowed._

"_But why did you hang out with them! Neji nearly killed Hinata once and Gaara's killed more people than we can ever count!" he clenched his hand and his knuckles grew white._

"_Why do you even care!" she screamed at him and Naruto jumped at her voice._

"_Because I love you!" Sasuke was quiet now, unsure why he just confessed his love to her when he never knew what love was to begin with._

"…_!" Sakura was shocked and so was Naruto, he stood there just gaping at him._

"…" _Sasuke looked away not wanting to look at her._

"_You…What do you mean?" she looked at him, she tried to look into his eyes but he avoided her gaze._

"_Sasuke…tell me..."she tried again but he continued to look away from her._

_Sasuke gritted his teeth and in his confusion and frustration he turned and walked off._

"_Sasuke! Wait!" she called out to him but he refused to stop, he refused to look back._

_Naruto watched him walk away from them. Growing more and more concern for the raven haired boy and his former crush._

"_What just happened? Naruto?" she spoke in a quiet voice, her eyes never left Sasuke's back._

**End flashback…**

She didn't know what to do or say, she just stood there dumb-founded.

**Flashback…**

"_I'm sorry…I shouldn't have told you…" he slowly picked himself up from the ground but Sakura held onto his sleeve. He still didn't want to look at her, in fear of losing control over his emotions and letting Shukaku get the better of him._

"_Gaara…" she began but he cut her off._

"_Don't worry about me…I've been rejected before…it's nothing new…" he spoke softly with a hint of betrayal hidden in his voice. She gripped onto his sleeve harder as he tried to move off again._

"_Gaara…" she took a deep breathe and began again._

"_If you want…we could give it a go neh?" she cocked her head to the side and smiled at him._

"…_I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do…" he looked at her, eyes filled with confusion, hurt and hope._

"_You're not forcing me to do anything…I'm willing if you are." She looked at him gently, trying to identify all the emotions going through his eyes._

_For the first time in his life, he felt truly happy. And he gave her an honest smile and she smiled back at him. Reaching forward for her waist, he pulled her into a small embrace._

"_Thank you…for giving me a chance…" he closed his eyes to savor the feeling and moment. Hopeful that it might last forever, wanting each and every moment to be imprinted into his head._

"_Everybody deserves a chance." She too, closed her eyes as she hugged him back. The minutes passed by, the sun was setting and the color of the sky was changing. The wind blew at them and the grass as they stayed that way, enjoying the moment together, enjoying the silence._

**End flashback…**

"Sakura?" she turned and she saw Gaara standing just a few paces away having witnessed everything that just occurred. Neji let go of her hand.

"Gaara…"

* * *

Woo! This is the longest chapter I have ever written it think…but it's all good man! By the end of it all, I realized I could've just copied and pasted the flashbacks instead, but I was soo caught up I forgot about it! WAHAHAHA! 


	14. When you need someone to talk to

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…and an unknown factor…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

Haru…

* * *

**Previously…**

_"What is it Neji-Kun?"_

_Unsure of what to say, he decided to go for actions. He gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her forwards and kissed her._

_"…!" her eyes widened but she was too shocked to push him away. He broke the kiss after a while._

_"I think I've fallen in love with you, Sakura…" Neji spoke but still holding onto her wrist. She gasped._

_"Sakura?" she turned and she saw Gaara standing just a few paces away having witnessed everything that just occurred. Neji let go of her hand._

_"Gaara…"

* * *

_

"Sakura…" he looked as if his heart just broke in half. Unaware that he grabbed the fabric that covered it, as though someone just stabbed him. He looked down, his eyes filled with sorrow and betrayal. He didn't know what to do, so he did the one thing that might help, he ran away.

"Gaara!" she tried to reach out for him but he was too fast.

"GAARA!" she called out his name but he ignored it, his eyes welling up with tears.

* * *

The next day had been a drag, and so was last night. She couldn't sleep therefore she had bags under her eyes, Neji couldn't sleep but he didn't look half as bad as her. Haru and Sasuke noticed something but wasn't sure what it was. Gaara never slept but even so, he would always stay in the apartment but last night he never came back. They heard a knock, it was a messenger with a request from the Kazekage. Haru was the one to open the door.

"Kazekage-Sama would like to see all of you at his office today…" the masked messenger told them.

"Hai…we'll come as soon as we're ready…" Haru informed him and the messenger bowed slightly and left in a puff of smoke, Haru closed the door.

"Are we ready?" he turned around and looked at everybody, Sakura more specifically.

"What about Gaara-Kun?" she looked up at the mist-nin but he just shrugged.

"We can leave him a note or something to tell him we're with the Kazekage…" Sasuke suggested.

"Hai, I'll do that…" Sakura got up from her seat and went to retrieve a pen and paper, and started writing down a message for him.

Gaara-Kun.

We've gone to meet with Kazekage-Sama, please meet us there and we'll wait for you.

Sakura.

PS- Can you and me talk later on? Please. I'll see you then.

Once she was done, everybody made a move for the door, leaving slowly one by one. She left the note on the kitchen table and walked out of the door, taking one last glance at the note before fully closing it.

* * *

"Kazekage-Sama…" Sakura took a step closer to the table with a look of worry on her face.

"We really don't have much of a choice sorry." He bent his head down in disappointment.

"But that's suicide! At least send two instead of just one!" she took another step towards the table.

"I can't sacrifice that. One is enough."

"But two would have a better chance of surviving!"

"ENOUGH! Please Sakura-San…you must understand this. Besides, I'm sure Gaara-San would be fine, I mean he is a great shinobi after all." He smiled half-heartedly.

"But-" she tried to discourage him from his decision but he spoke before she could finish.

"I know that you are worried about him, but he won't die without a fight. And he's more than capable of looking after himself." He continued to smile forcedly.

Knowing that she couldn't make him change his mind, she decided to keep quiet as she lowered her head in depression.

"Please give this to Gaara-San." He handed over a scroll to Sakura but Neji took it for her.

"Wait, I'll give it to him." She looked over at Neji with a look he hadn't seen since her parents died. He hesitated giving it to her, but she took it before he could change his mind.

"I won't make Gaara accept this mission." She looked at the Kazekage while holding onto the scroll in front of her.

"Gaara-San asked for this mission."

"What?" she widened her eyes in disbelief.

"No way…" she stepped back from the desk.

"I'm afraid it's true Sakura-San." He looked at her with sympathy in his eyes.

"NO! I don't believe it!" she grabbed her head while still holding the scroll and ran out of the office.

"SAKURA!" Neji shouted out to her but she ignored it.

* * *

She ran, as fast as she could, down the corridors of the building and through the village of Sand. Running blindly as her tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision, clutching onto the scroll as if it was her source of life.

'Gaara…Why are you doing this to me?'

She tripped over a small rock on the road but she pushed herself back up as she ran into an alleyway. Unaware of her surroundings, she leaned on the wall and sank down onto the ground, still gripping onto the scroll as she buried her head on her knees, gently rocking herself back and forth on the same spot. Only her soft sniffles could be heard.

* * *

'Now where did Sakura go?' he thought to himself as he walked around the village with searching eyes.

'I can't believe she cares that much for that guy.' He stopped in front of the fountain as he took a deep breath and sighed out loud.

'What's with her anyways? She's been so different since last night, and so was Neji. As well as Gaara…' he began to walk again, trying to sense out her chakra but they only came in small bursts at irregular intervals.

'There she goes again, a little bit of chakra somewhere close but not long enough to pinpoint her exact location.' He made a turn to the left of the fountain square.

"Now where would Sakura go if she was sad or possible angry?" he spoke out loud to himself as he made another left turn he stopped in front of an alley and listened carefully.

He heard sobs and sniffles, her distinct cries and gasps. He took a step into the dark alley, hoping that it would be her and maybe not her at the same time. He stepped cautiously into the alley and saw a figure sitting on the floor. He realized that it was Sakura because of her pink hair so he crouched down beside her and soothingly rubbed her back to calm her.

* * *

'Gaara, please don't leave me, I don't want to lose you. Please don't leave me…' her mind droned on over and over again as she rocked herself gently in her cries. She was unaware that someone was watching her as that person stepped closer to her personal space, rubbing her back up and down. She was finally aware of his presence and looked up to see him better.

"Haru-Kun?" her voice was soft and broken.

"We should get back to the apartment, you need to sleep and get something to eat." His gaze softened.

"But, Gaara…"

"Don't worry about Gaara, you and I both know that he'll be fine." She remained silent as he spoke but as he stood up, she didn't follow.

"Come on, I'll help you up." He held out his hand for her but she didn't move. "Don't make me drag you back." He smiled at her.

"Last night…Neji kissed me and Gaara saw it."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want." She shook her head as she continued to speak.

"Before me and Gaara were going out together, Sasuke confessed to me. And while me and Gaara were going out, Neji confessed to me. We didn't exactly tell anyone that we're going out together so I guess they never knew." She looked at the wall opposite her as she spoke.

"And?"

"Don't tell me you're going to confess to me too." She looked at him, searching for an answer.

"Hehe, as much as I like you, you're pretty much like a sister to me than anything else. Don't take it too personally." He smiled at her as he scratched his head.

"What can I do?" her grip on the scroll tightened and loosened as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" he crouched down beside her again.

"I'm torn…" she whispered out.

"Between what?" he spoke softly.

"I'm torn between my first crush and the two people who taught me so much…"

"Sasuke, Neji and Gaara."

"Hai…"

"Please worry about this later, you need sleep and something to eat, once you do that I'm sure you can think much more clearly." He stood up again and held out his hand to her.

"Come on, I'll walk with you, unless you want me to carry you." He smiled at her.

"You smile at the weirdest of times…thank you." She forced out a half smile at him.

"Smiling helps in some ways but not everything. Don't strain yourself ok?"

* * *

Wah! Guess Haru is just a brother to her then! I bet she needs one since my fic is sooo complicating her life! DON'T KILL ME! I BEG OF YOU!

You can kill me when this fic is done if you don't like it…Laters.


	15. He left, I cried, someone smells

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

AH! NO! I CAN'T BELIEVE PEOPLE TOOK UP ON THE OFFER OF KILLING ME! runs away Please forgive me! It's just part of the plan and my stupid fingers won't listen to me! They've got a mind of their own, so it's kinda creeping me out here…

* * *

The day was good, it wasn't too cloudy or too sunny, nor was it too windy and dry. It was perfect. That was what Gaara thought as he sat on top of a roof on one of the many buildings in Suna. His hand held onto the note Sakura wrote for him and he has yet to decide whether to talk to her or not. He was confused, about him and her, but what about Neji? Will he receive an apology from her, maybe even an explanation or a break up instead.

He needed to weigh out his options, but whenever he found a reason for going, he found another reason for not going, which confused him even further.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he was unaware that someone was approaching him. He seemed to have snapped out of his trance when someone spoke his name.

"Gaara-Kun?" he didn't bother turning around to see who it was.

"What do you want, Sakura…" he spoke indifferently. Hearing no emotions in his voice, he indirectly harmed her.

"I just want to talk." She stepped closer to him but the sand around him jerked abruptly on the ground. She felt heartbroken knowing that he had put up his shield even around her.

"I don't want to talk."

"You can just listen then."

"I don't want to listen to you either."

"Are you angry at me?" she lowered her head.

"…" when he didn't speak, she assumed that he was angry at her.

"I see, I'll leave you alone then?"

"I'm not angry at you."

"Then talk to me." Her voice was soft but firm.

"I don't want to talk, not right now Sakura…" he still wasn't facing her, but his shield had dropped.

"Then will you listen to me?" she took a step closer.

"I don't know. I can't handle being with or without you. It's too confusing."

"Why don't I just sit down at the opposite side of the roof, I'll be close and far at the same time." She half-heartedly smiled at his back.

"Ah…" and with that, she moved to the other side and sat on the edge, idly swinging her feet around.

* * *

"Has anybody seen Sakura?" Neji poked his head into the living room.

"Sakura went to find Gaara." Haru looked up from the scroll he was reading. At that moment, his forehead furrowed in thought.

"I see…When will she be back?"

"No idea really." Haru went back to reading his scroll as Neji left the living room and into his quarters.

* * *

The wind blew through his red hair, further messing it up but he didn't care for it much. His thoughts were still muddled up. Not knowing what is right or wrong anymore.

'Would I have been better off not knowing you as well as not knowing the emotions I'm feeling right now? Or should I lose you but keep these emotions but perhaps find another."

He scrunched up the note he still held in his hand as he closed his eyes.

'Sakura…' he thought to himself, unaware that he spoke it out loud as well.

"What is it Gaara-Kun?" she turned around but he ignored her.

"Nothing."

"Oh. Um, you know the mission?" she turned her gaze away from her.

"What about it?"

"You didn't ask for it did you? I mean, why would you? And even if you did, you'd just reject it right?"

"I _did_ ask for it."

"But why?"

"I need to get away from you, and everybody else…"

"But, then you'd just leave me alone again." Her voice was starting to crack as her tears began to sting her eyes.

"You've got the others, you don't need me."

"YES I DO!" he turned around to see that she was now up from her seat with her fingers digging into her palm so hard, it drew out blood. Gaara was surprised by her sudden outburst but replied her with the same emotionless voice.

"No, you don't…" he whispered out that not even Sakura could hear. He got up from him seat and walked over to Sakura, whose tears were making trails down her cheeks. He ripped up a part of his shirt and wrapped up Sakura's hands. Once he was done, she chose that moment to speak again.

"Please, come back safe…" she looked up at him but he turned his back to her.

"I don't make promises…but I'll try." He closed his eyes as she made a move to hold onto him but he disappeared in a swirl of sand, grasping onto nothing but air.

* * *

"Gaara…" she sank to her knees, looking at her hands.

"What happened was an accident, I didn't mean for it to happen…"

"Accidents happen all the time Sakura…some people take more time to forgive others." Haru came up from behind her.

"But, I didn't do it on purpose."

"Then are you blaming Neji?" he knelt down beside her.

"No! I didn't say that!"

"Sakura, things take time to heal, so you have to give Gaara some time to recover too, not just yourself."

She found herself nodding to what he said and decided to sit down instead because the ground was hurting her knees so Haru did the same thing and sat down beside her.

"You'll be ok, I promise." He put his arm around her and she tilted her head to his shoulder.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep…" she spoke as near tears slid down her cheeks onto his shirt.

"I always keep my promises. You'll see."

* * *

"Sakura, you should stay behind and rest. You might end up jeopardizing the mission." The dark raven haired boy spoke as he leaned on the window sill.

"But I want to come." Her voice was weak and her head hung low.

"You're not fit to fight let alone walk without stumbling over, especially now that Gaara's left." He was leaning on the opposite wall of her when she turned to hear Neji speak.

"Are you thinking that maybe he'll change his mind and come back to protect you?" Haru was sitting on the chair as looked up at her. She slowly nodded to what he said.

"There's a possibility of that happening but how would you know, he might not come and you might end up dead." Haru continued to speak.

"But-" she started but got interrupted by him again.

"Sakura, none of us would want to lose you, not even Gaara." Tears slid down her cheeks as he continued to speak, while getting up from his seat and walking up to her.

"Please understand." He placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her as she slowly nodded.

* * *

"It's the same thing as before, Haru is Theta, Sasuke is Sigma and I'll be Alpha. The whole group is Omega. Search for possible enemies and move out."

"You're not gonna ask if anybody's got any questions? You still haven't answered my last one!" Haru complained. Neji and Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"Move out…"

"Fine…" Haru crossed his arms in frustration.

* * *

Sakura sat on the window sill, staring out into the village. Today was just like yesterday, a bit of wind and some clouds. It was almost perfect but Gaara wasn't here. Not with them, not with her,

"Gaara, please be safe, please come back safe." She leaned her head onto the window frame, staring out at the cloudless sky.

The last time she saw him was last night in his room. He had been packing away then.

**Flashback…**

"_Gaara-Kun? Can I come in?" she opened the door slightly, enough for her head to come through._

"_Ah…" he was packing away his equipment and change of clothes._

"_Do you want me to prepare something for you to eat along the way?"_

"_No…I'm leaving tonight."_

"_Tonight? But we have to meet with the Kazekage tonight."_

"_I'm not going, I'll be leaving when I'm done packing." He checked his pouch for weapons._

"_When will you be back?"_

"_In a month or so."_

"_You promise?" she smiled a little._

"_I don't make promises, but I'll try."_

"_Good then, I wanna see you again in a month alright? You can't break your promises." Her smiled widened. With his back turned to her, she didn't see the smirk on his face._

**End flashback…**

She smiled slightly when she thought back to that moment. It broke her heart to see him go. Technically, he left when she slept which was quite late at night because she wanted to see him go and maybe give him a hug when he left, but by the time she realized that she fell asleep, he was already gone.

"Gaara-Kun…are you thinking about me right now?"

* * *

"Theta to Omega…this is so boring…all clear...over…" Haru yawned on the other side.

"Sigma to Omega…no signs of the enemy. Over." Sasuke spoke as he looked over the village from the rooftops.

"Alpha to Omega…nothing in the sewers. Over." Neji spoke as he walked around the mucky ground. He felt sick, but not sick enough to make him hurl.

"I feel sorry for you getting the sewers and that." Haru laughed slightly.

"You wanna do this instead?" Neji spoke to Haru.

"No thanks!"

"Cut it out…" Sasuke sounded irritated.

"Well, sorry Mr Stop-talking-because-your-voice-is-pissing-me-off." Haru spoke as he crossed his arms in annoyance.

"We're done for the day, the sun is already setting, we should head back and report to Kazekage-Sama." Neji made a move to a nearby ladder out of the sewers.

"I'll report to Kazekage-Sama, you should take a shower." Sasuke jumped off from the roof onto the streets.

"I bet you stink!" Haru started walking to the apartment.

"Shut up…" he stuck his head out of the drains and took a deep breath of fresh air.

'Finally…fresh air…I swear I could've died in there any minute." He sweat-dropped. 'Man…I _do_ stink…"

* * *

There you go…another chapter….and another death wish…Sigh sigh… 


	16. Back home to Konoha

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Believe me when I say I DIDN'T CUT OUT GAARA! But! He will he out for a chapter or two but he WILL be back! I SWEAR!

I hope Hao'sAnjul won't kill me when I'm finish...because I have more fics to write! FORGIVE ME! runs away

Please don't hate me Queen Cow and Steak…you're like one of the first reviewers I've ever had…DON'T LEAVE ME!

And thanks to Sakura Kage for giving me a heads up on how many reviews I have…102! YEA BABY!

* * *

"Thank you for your services, they are very much appreciated. Please thank Hokage-Sama as well." the leader of the village spoke as he bowed down to them.

"It's alright Kazekage-Sama, it's our job to help our allies." The white eyed boy nodded his head in reply.

"Hey, hey. Do I get paid too?" Haru spoke but Sakura punched him on the head.

"Mind your manners! You were much different in Mist! Sorry Kazekage-Sama." She bowed as Haru sat on the floor rubbing gingerly on his head.

"That really hurts Sakura!" he winced as she glared down at him.

"Fine, I'll shut up then…" he pouted his lips and got back up but still rubbing his head.

'That freaking hurts…' Haru thought to himself.

'He reminds me of Naruto…' Sasuke thought as he sweat-dropped. 'What a dope…'

"Well be on our way then, Kazekage-Sama, please inform us if you need any assistance." Neji bowed and left the room, followed by Sasuke, Haru then Sakura. As they moved along the corridor, Sasuke and Neji couldn't help but notice the closeness of Sakura and Haru. Almost as if they were brothers or sisters, or worse, as if they were together. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at them from the corner of his eye, no noticing how Neji was doing the same thing as him.

"You seriously didn't have to punch me! I must've lost a few brain cells! Can't you take a joke!" Haru laughed at Sakura and she punched him playfully on his shoulder.

"Hey! Why didn't you punch me softly instead!"

"It's a habit." She laughed at him again as they walked into the streets of Suna.

"We'll be leaving for Konoha in an hour, the weather here is getting hotter and I'm sure you wouldn't want that, now do you Sakura." Neji looked over to Sakura as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Yea, the sooner we move, the sooner we can get back to Konoha." She smiled as she moved into her room to pack up her things.

"We'll leave in an hour." She heard Neji shout out.

"I won't be late this time because I'm leaving with you guys!" Neji smirked.

* * *

The journey in the desert was the same as before, it was hot and barren. A lot more hostile than Sakura could remember from the first time they crossed it. There were no ambushes during their journey across the desert but as soon as they had set foot in Konoha territory, they were attacked by exiled-nins and intruders of Konoha. They even managed to kill a few Sound spies as well, which was pretty good for them.

"I better add that in the report…" Neji spoke as he de-activated his Byakugan.

"Yeah! One or two more days and we'll be back in Konoha! I can't wait!" she smiled and laughed but Haru knew what was wrong. Her behavior was abnormal, especially since Gaara left. Sure she was being cheerful, but it was against what she really wanted. She was depressed but kept up a mask to hide her feelings. Haru analyzed her as she continued to smile and clap for Sasuke and Neji's efforts for disposing the enemies of both Konoha and Suna.

"You guys were great! I should train more! I only managed one this time!" she smiled at them and turned to Haru.

"Hey! Stop checking me out! I know I'm beautiful but you're freaking me out!" she laughed and pointed at him and he followed suit. Neji and Sasuke sweat-dropped.

"Come on, don't flatter yourself." He smiled at her.

"You, shut up!" she punched him playfully on his arm.

"Let's go then." Neji gestured for them to continue on their way back home. As they walked, Neji was always in the front and Sasuke second. Sakura would either be last or second to last depending on her mood. As soon as everything quieted down however, she fell to the back of the line, further away than she was before.

"Hey Sakura, you're falling behind!" Haru called out to her.

"Sorry!" she ran up to him.

"Is something wrong?" he whispered to her.

"Not really…" she looked down at the floor.

"You wanna talk about it? I wouldn't mind, it's good to let it out every once in a while." He furrowed his eyebrows in concern for the pink haired shinobi.

"Maybe later on…" she smiled half-heartedly at him.

"Ok, I'll be there to remind you though." He smiled back at her.

"Thanks."

* * *

"We're back! I can't wait to go back home and take a nice long bath!" she stretched her limbs as she entered the gates of Konoha.

"We should inform Hokage-Sama about our returning but I'll write out the report." Neji spoke as he turned around to see all of their faces with scanning eyes.

"What about me? I'm not exactly part of Konoha." Haru pointed to himself.

"You can either come with us as well or you can go back to wherever you were staying before." Neji continued.

"Ok then. I'll be going on home!" he smiled as he marched off to Sakura's house.

"NO FAIR! HARU!" Sakura shouted out at him but he waved back and stuck out his tongue at her.

"Man…" she pouted and crossed her arms.

"Let's go." Sasuke spoke as he began to walk to the office.

* * *

"Hm? Where's Haru and Gaara?" the blonde with the pigtails spoke from behind her desk. At the mention of Gaara's name, Sakura's happiness depleted to sadness.

"Haru has gone to wherever he was staying and as for Gaara…he was assigned another mission by Kazekage-Sama." The white-eyed shinobi spoke to her.

"I see…when will he be back from that mission?" she scanned them, their appearance, their mood and the way they speak.

"In a month…more or less." Neji realized that she was analyzing them.

"In a month…no more than a month…he promised." Sakura whispered out.

"Ok, that will be all, I want a report in by two days. You're dismissed." She waved them off as they bowed in respect and left the building. Once they were outside, Sasuke bid them goodbye and left to his house and as well as Neji. Sakura's suppose to be silent walk home turned into a fairly loud one when Naruto and some others joined in.

"HEY SAKURA-CHAN! How was your mission? I bet you did great!" Naruto smiled at her.

"It was ok Naruto." She kept up her mask of happiness, it had become a habit when she was around people now.

"Sakura! I can't believe you had a mission with my Sasuke-Kun!" Ino pushed Naruto away and confronted the pink haired shinobi.

"INO! I WAS TALKING TO HER FIRST SO BUG OFF!" Naruto pushed Ino away and vice versa. It was a fight to get Sakura's attention but she managed to slip away when they were busy pushing and shoving.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto looked around in search of the girl.

"Sakura!" Ino frantically looked to the left and right of her but couldn't find the said girl.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID! YOU SCARED HER AWAY WITH YOUR NOISINESS!" Ino began to shove him again.

"NO WAY! YOU SCARED HER AWAY WITH YOUR SCREAMING!" Naruto shoved back at her.

"WHY YOU LITTLE!" she made a move to strangle him but Naruto ran off and Ino chased after him.

"Eep!"

* * *

"Tadaima!" (A/N: means…I'm home!") she shouted out as she entered her house.

"Okaeri!" (A/N: means…Welcome back or Welcome home!) Haru stuck his head out of the kitchen.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm cooking…duh." He made a stupid face before retreating back into the kitchen.

"I could've cooked for you." She walked over to where Haru was.

"Yea, but my cooking is better than yours." He smiled at her.

"As if!" she punched him hard on his shoulder but he didn't mind.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a shower." She walked off and up the stairs, picking up her bag along the way.

"We'll talk during dinner if you want!" he shouted out from his spot and he heard Sakura make a faint murmur of agreement.

She took her time walking up the stairs, her pace got slower as she got higher, as if her shoulders are being weighted by burdens she couldn't get rid of. Once she got to the top, she dragged herself to her room and fell on top of her bed. She felt dirty but she was emotionally and physically tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. As she slowly began to succumb to the darkness, someone called out her name.

"Sakura, I think you should go shower first, you'll feel better after it." Haru stood by the door.

"I'm too tired." Her eye lids were half open trying to stay awake for a little bit longer.

"Just take a short shower so you won't feel so dirty, then you can go to sleep. I know you'll regret it by the time you wake up." Haru took a seat beside her.

"I'm tired and I'm dirty, but I just wanna sleep." She closed her eyes once more as she listened to Haru's voice.

"Just take a very, very short shower ok? Please." He pulled her up to a sitting position.

"You're not gonna leave me alone are you?" she gazed at him through half opened eyes.

"Nope! Now get going!" he dragged her to the bathroom and pushed her inside.

"I won't peek! I promise!" he smiled and closed the door behind him.

'He's so annoyingly nice…' she smiled and turned on the shower.

* * *

"It's been ten minutes already…why do girls take such a long time to shower?" Haru sighed as he walked up the stairs. He peeked into her room and saw her lying on her bed, sleeping in only her towel. His eyes widened in a shocked way.

'OH MY GOD! SHE SHOULDN'T BE SLEEPING IN A TOWEL! SHE SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN THAT! WHAT AM I GONNA DO!' He thought to himself as he looked around the room panicking with both hands grabbing his hair.

'I don't wanna touch her when she's like that! It's…disgusting…' he spotted something by the door, it was a katana.

'Good enough…' he used the scabbard to poke her but it wasn't of adequate length.

'Damn, too short…' he sweat-dropped as he inched a little bit closer and poke her on her leg.

"Sa-Saku…Sakura…" he poked her once more and she mumbled something in her sleep.

"Sakura…" he poked her again, this time she responded with "Get lost."

"Sakura…" he jabbed her leg and she twitched, furrowing her eyebrows in anger and saying "Bug off." He didn't know how else to wake her up, so he thought of something fairly mean but it would work none the less.

"Sakura, wake up! I see Gaara!" he yelled out and she practically jumped out of bed and out the door, he sweat-dropped again.

'She fell for it, man. I'm gonna get a beating after this for lying.' He went after her, down the stairs to the front door.

"Hey…"

"Where's Gaara!" she looked out the front door with searching eyes.

"Um…"

"Where is he? Did I just miss him?"

"I think you should-"

"No! How could I have slept when he was here?"

"Sakura…"

"What! Did you see him? Which way did he go!" she reluctantly looked over to Haru.

"Firstly, get changed. Secondly, he wasn't here and thirdly, he's still doing his mission." He spoke as he pointed to his fingers. She looked down at her attire and blushed.

"Um…I'll be right back…" she ran up the stairs and slammed the door. She was out in five minutes.

"I guess you don't want to sleep anymore?" he looked at her while she proceeded down the stairs.

"No, you woke me up." She glared daggers at him.

"Ah, sorry about that." He smiled at her apologetically and went back to cooking dinner for the two of them. She stood by the door, watching his every movement.

"Why did you do that?" she looked up at him.

"Do what?" he continued to stir the porridge he was making.

"You lied…"

"I had to get you to wake up, sleeping in a towel isn't good for you." He chopped up some spring onions and sprinkled them into the pot.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I had no other choice, poking you didn't work. In fact, all I got from you were insults every time I did it." He smiled.

"That was mean, you know how much Gaara means to me."

"I know, but he wouldn't want to come back to a sick Sakura." He tasted a bit of it and winced as the hot food burned his tongue.

"AH, HOT! HOT, HOT, HOT!" he stuck his tongue out and waved his hand to cool it down.

"Stupid, drink some cold water." She went over to the cupboard and grabbed a cup, walking over to the sink and filled it up with water.

"Thanks." He took the cup from Sakura and drank it.

"So, do you wanna talk about it now?" he smiled as he looked at her.

"Talk about what." She stared at him with a mild confused look.

"Talk about the things that are on your mind, namely Gaara." He turned off the stove and gestured her to take a seat at the kitchen table.

"I miss him." She fiddled with her fingers.

"I know you do." He took a seat beside her.

"He left without saying goodbye or see you later." Tears were starting to form in her eyes, she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. Haru stayed quiet as she spoke.

"I really miss him."

"I know you do." He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"What can I do? I don't know what to do."

"It's ok, you'll eventually find out what to do when you can think clearer."

"I really miss him…" she sniffed and tilted her head to his shoulder.

"Shh…it's ok, you'll be fine." He whispered into her ear as he hugged her.

"Thank you…"

* * *

Ok, done…NEXT CHAPTER! 


	17. Leaving

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much…

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Ah! No! Don't set the time and date of my death! I want red roses on my funeral please! Waahahaha! Sorry…Gaara won't be back this time…not on this chapter but maybe the next one, I was planning for him to come back this time but another idea came into my head, so please be patient and wait ne! Thank you!

* * *

"SAKURA! COME ON! WAKE UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE FOR TRAINING AGAIN!" Haru shouted as he walked up the stairs to her room. As he entered her room, he saw a sleeping Sakura under the covers.

'She's cute when she sleeps but she's late…again…' he thought to himself as he neared the bed. He pulled the covers really hard and Sakura curled herself into a ball.

"WAKE UP!" he shouted into her ear and she winced.

'I hear bells…' she thought to herself as she tried to get rid of the ringing in her ear.

"What the heck was that for!" she glared daggers at him but he just smiled back at her.

"You're officially late for training."

"I don't have training today, Gaara's not here." She fell back onto her bed.

"So? Neji and Sasuke are training with you today, or did you forget?"

She mumbled something into her pillow but he couldn't hear.

"What did you say?" he leaned his head in to hear her better.

"I don't wanna train, you can't make me." She mumbled into her pillow but it was louder this time.

"Come on, I don't wanna drag up to the bathroom…you're too heavy for me." He smirked as he turned around to leave.

"I am soo not that heavy!" she got out of bed and went to the bathroom, glaring at him as she past the door.

'Gets her every time. Why are girls so conscious about their looks?' he sighed at that thought and went back down the stairs.

* * *

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!" she yelled out as she ran up to them with Haru beside her.

"No you're not." He smirked at her.

"Yea, but they don't know that." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, what are we gonna do for training huh?" she smiled as she tilted her head.

"The usual sparring and some meditation." The white eyed boy spoke as he stood with his arms crossed.

"…" the other with the raven hair stood with his hands in his pockets with the same unreadable face.

"Ok then! I'll partner up with Haru. How's that sound?" she clasped her hands as she spoke while Neji and Sasuke stared at the pink haired shinobi. They really wanted a chance to talk to her, but they didn't want to make it too obvious or eager.

"Sure, whatever." Sasuke shrugged and walked off while Neji followed.

"What shall we do?" she turned around to look at Haru who just stood there casually.

"Uh…let's start with meditation then sparring." He took a seat on the grass and gestured for her to sit beside him.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you how to meditate." He smiled at her.

"Hey, I'm not that stupid!" she leered at him.

"Really?" he replied with no sarcasm in his voice which earned him a smack on the head.

"That hurts!" he spoke as he gingerly rubbed his head. She decided to ignore him and begin her meditation but couldn't really clear her mind because of the wincing voice she got from Haru.

"Shut up, I'm trying to meditate her." She sneered at him as he finally quieted down and closed his eyes. He started to take long, deep breaths and she followed him.

'Just think about your breathing, breath in, breath out.' She thought to herself as she concentrated on her breathing. The she heard a clash of weapons not to far away.

'Must be Neji and Sasuke.' She breathed in again but her thoughts were once more interrupted by another clash of weapons. Haru peered at her from the corner of his eye and saw her eyebrows furrowed in irritated concentration.

"Just breath in and breath out, ignore the others." He spoke softly to her.

'Breath in and breath out, in and out…' she thought and found herself eventually thinking about nothing but those two things. 'Breath in and breath out, in and out…'

It was almost as if her surroundings were much clearer, she could hear the birds chirping and the wind dancing on the grass. She focused on her breathing and didn't realize what happened until she opened her eyes, that she blocked a kunai that came right to her head.

'Woah.' Her eyes widened as she looked at the kunai she held in her hands. Not far away, she could see Neji and Sasuke running up to her.

"Hey, you ok? I wasn't aiming for you." Neji panted as he ran up to her.

"I accidentally deflected it to you." Sasuke panted as he ran up beside Neji resting his arms in his knees.

"I'm ok, I didn't realize it was coming at me until I caught it." She smiled at them.

"Meditation makes your surroundings come clearer, don't you agree Sakura?" Haru's eyes were still closed as he spoke to her.

"Yea, I think so too."

* * *

"Ok, why don't we stop our meditation here? And start with sparring." He got up and looked over at Sakura, a bit of drool could be seen coming from her mouth.

'I can't believe she fell asleep…' he sweat-dropped as he stared at her. He could still hear the clashing of weapons from both Neji and Sasuke as they fought while he crouched down beside Sakura and gave her a nudge in between her ribs. She swatted his hand away and went back to sleep.

"…Uh…let's see…" he nudged her again and she mumbled something like "Get lost or I'll kill you…"

"I see there's a bit of Gaara in her…" he poked her but she didn't respond.

"Hm…SAKURA WATCH OUT!" she winced as she fell to her sides.

"What, what where!" she looked around agitatedly as Haru laughed at her.

"What!" she glared at him.

"You're drooling." He tried to suppress another laugh as she wiped the drool off with the back of her hand.

"Geez, can't you be a little bit more mature?"

"Well, yea but at least I don't end up falling asleep when I'm meditating."

"Shut up." She leered at him as she got up from her seat.

"What now? Sparring?" she brushed off the stray pieces of grass on her dress.

"Yup, why don't we start now!" he spoke as he threw a kunai at her but she dodged it. She jumped away and performed a few hand seals and suddenly a water dragon appeared from behind her and charged at him but Haru countered it with his own attack.

"Suiton! Suiryuudan!" the force of the two dragons pushed them away but their feet dug into the ground so they didn't get far. She looked at Haru as she took out the fans in her pouch, she knew that Haru hadn't seen these weapons yet so it would be a good advantage to her.

"What are those for? It's not that hot!" he pointed at her with a bemused look on his face. She smirked at him.

'You have no idea.' She thought to herself as she ran up towards him, hands on either side of her. When she was close enough to him, she exposed the hidden shards of metal and slashed at him, he jumped back but not without a cut on his shirt.

"This is my favorite shirt!" he yelled out at her as he ran up to her with three shurikens in each hand. He threw it at her but she deflected it with her fan. He continued to rush up to her while performing a few seals of the bird, rat, horse and more.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" he yelled out as clones of himself appeared beside him. Sakura did the same and used Kage Bunshin to counter his Mizu Bunshin. The copies attacked each other while the real ones stayed behind. As the last one of the duplicates disappeared, a shinobi of the Mist appeared in front of them.

"Haru, is it?" the ninja looked at him.

"Yes? What is it?" Haru spoke as he placed on a mask of seriousness.

"You are needed back in Mist." The messenger spoke as he handed over a scroll to him. Haru took it and opened it up, scanning it contents.

"I guess my vacation is over neh Sakura?" he smiled at her but she frowned back.

"I shall wait for you by the Konoha gates." The messenger spoke as he bowed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Looks like my time here has past. Sorry Sakura." He walked up to her but she kept her head down.

"I'm really sorry I have to leave, but I'll try to come back as soon as possible ok?" he spoke as he placed his thumb and forefinger on her chin to make her look up.

"How long will you take?" she said in between small sobs.

"As soon as my business in Mist is done, I'll come back."

"How long will you take?" she repeated looking at his face.

"One month, I promise."

"You promise?" tears slid down her face onto the grass.

"I promise and I'll write to you too, how does that sound?" he let go of her chin and she came forward for a hug.

"Great…" she sniffed into his shirt. "I'm sorry about your shirt. I can fix it for you." She mumbled out.

"Nah, it's ok. I've got a spare!" he laughed as she punched him.

"Baka."

* * *

I'm sorry, I know I said that Gaara would be back in here but I guess everything is up to the speed of my fingers and also the speed of my ideas…Waahahahha! It's all random so yea… 


	18. Lunch with the Hyuuga's

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

…You're serious about killing me! In that case…I want some cherry blossoms too, a couple of bouquets won't do…I want a whole shop ya hear me! Wahahaha! Anyways…this chapter is dedicated to…

Find out yourself…Wahaahahahah!

* * *

A certain pink haired shinobi was strolling down the streets of Konoha, with no where to go in particular. Ever since Haru left, the house has been very quiet, perhaps the same kind of quietness as how her mother and father left. But Haru will come back, she was sure of it.

"One month…just one month and he'll be back." She smiled to herself as she turned a corner and accidentally bumping into Hinata and Neji.

"Hi, sorry I didn't see you!" she laughed at her clumsiness as she scratched her head.

"M-me and Neji-ni-san w-were about to get something to eat…w-would you like to join us Sakura-San?" Hinata spoke as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Sure, if that's ok with Neji." She smiled at Hinata who returned it with a small smile.

"I'm sure Neji-ni-san w-wouldn't mind." She looked over at her cousin.

"Hn…"

"Great! So, where shall we go Hinata?" she grabbed hold of the shy girl's arm and Hinata blushed at the sudden contact while Neji followed behind.

"I d-don't m-mind." She stuttered back.

"You should try and be more confident!" Sakura spoke as she dragged Hinata around the streets.

"I'll try but w-why d-don't you a-ask Neji-ni-san about w-where we should eat?"

"Neji-Kun! Where do you wanna eat? Anywhere is totally fine with me!"

"Hn…"

"Can you say something else other than that?" she smiled at him but he looked away and blushed a little bit.

"W-we can eat h-here if you w-want." Hinata stuttered as she pointed at a sign.

"Udon? That's a great idea! I haven't eaten udon in ages!" she laughed as she pulled Hinata into the restaurant, Neji followed behind them.

"Let's see…What shall we order? Udon!" she laughed at herself.

"Not m-much of a choice I d-don't think." She smiled at Sakura.

"Hn…"

"Neeeejiii-Kuuuun." Sakura called out to him in a sing-song voice while he reacted with a blush.

"What."

"Say something else other than 'Hn' or 'What' will ya?" she cocked her head to the side.

"Fine…" he looked away, unable to contain his blush any longer, Hinata giggled at the sight of her cousin.

"What s-shall we d-do after lunch Sakura-San?"

"I'm gonna make you stop stuttering like that!" she cackled as Hinata laughed nervously.

"You r-really don't have to do t-that Sakura-San."

"And stop using honorifics with me, just Sakura is fine."

"Ok, Sakura."

"Neejii! Say something!" Sakura yelled at him.

"Like what!" he glared at her.

"Something like…anything stupid then!" she sneered at him and he returned it with a glare of his own.

"Never knew Neji could be this socially inept…" Sakura smirked at him.

"Whatever…" he crossed his arms and looked outside.

"You are so, hopeless…" she sighed.

* * *

"That was good. Let's go find Naruto!" Sakura yelled out as she pulled Hinata to Ichiraku Ramen while Neji followed behind them.

"B-but w-we shouldn't d-disturb Naruto-Kun w-while he's eating, d-don't you t-think Sakura?"

"He wouldn't mind! Come on, let's go!" Sakura moved forward dragging behind a stuttering Hinata who was trying to escape Sakura's grip on her arm.

"I r-really d-don't want to g-go see Naruto-Kun."

"Sure you do and you shouldn't deny it!" she smiled at her but Hinata remained worried.

"It's n-not polite to d-disturb o-others while t-they are eating Sakura." Hinata spoke as she tried to pry the fingers of her while Neji came to the front of both of them.

"If she doesn't want to go then leave her be Sakura, you shouldn't force people into situations where they do not wish to be in." Neji stared at Sakura whose mouth was wide open.

"Oh my gosh! That's the most I've ever heard you say in one sentence! Congratulations Neji-Kun!" she clapped for him while he glared daggers at her.

"Don't mock me." He uncrossed his arms.

"I'm not mocking you, I'm simply congratulating you." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Just because I don't talk much doesn't mean I'm dense, I mean. Look at Naruto, for a guy who talks so much, you have to wonder why he isn't very smart." Neji contemplated on that thought.

"Did you just mock Naruto?" she leered at him.

"I didn't mock him, I'm just comparing." He sneered at her.

"Comparing is almost like mocking, it's like saying you're better than him."

"I_am_ better than him."

"Is that a fact?" she smirked at him.

"What did I just say? I am better than him." he played a small smirk on his lips.

"Stop talking about Naruto-Kun like that." Hinata stamped her foot down, unable to handle the way the conversation was going and she glared at Neji.

"Gomen, Hinata-Sama." He bowed slightly and scornfully looked at Sakura who stuck her tongue out at him.

"Let's go Hinata." She took her arm and walked off, this time though, Hinata willingly followed while Neji decided to stay behind. As Sakura walked along side with Hinata, she couldn't help but ponder on her life. Hinata noticed her quietness and grew worried.

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

"Nothing! I was just thinking that's all." She laughed nervously as her pace got faster but Hinata persisted in asking.

"You can tell me if you want, I do not want to see you upset."

"I'm not upset, I was thinking."

"You are upset, now please tell me."

"Hey, cool. You stopped stuttering." She smiled at her.

"That's beside the point. Please tell me Sakura." She tugged onto her arm as Sakura's expression changed from faked happiness to pure sadness.

"…The two most important people in my life have just left me." Sakura spoke as she looked down on the floor.

"When will they be back?"

"One of them said that he'll be back in a month and so did the other."

"Then you only have to wait for a month."

"I guess so."

"There's something else on your mind isn't there?" Hinata spoke as she let go of Sakura's arm and they began to walk slowly over to Ichiraku Ramen.

"I suppose you could say that."

"What is it?"

"I guess it's about three guys that like me but I'm going out with one. The other two keep on leaving little reminders."

"I see."

"That's all you're gonna say?" Sakura sweat-dropped.

"Just follow your heart Sakura." Hinata smiled at her.

"That's what they always say!"

* * *

Sakura sat on her bed, with a scroll and ink pen in hand. She looked out of the window reminiscing about her life. Love life I suppose you could say. She then started writing down onto the scroll, a letter to Haku.

_Hey Haru,_

_I know you only left a few days ago, but I just felt like writing. It's really quiet here and I don't like it. How are things in your village? And don't forget about Chiyako too._

_I don't think I can handle a month with Neji and Sasuke without you, when will you be back? I know you said a month but can you come back earlier than that? I can't really stay in the same place with the two of them without going crazy with my words. I just ended up fighting with Neji today, it wasn't a big fight, it was just a fun kind of fight. Like how me and Ino used to fight. But I wasn't really comfortable talking to him like that, not much anyway._

_Be safe on your journey and don't forget about me!_

_PS: I miss Gaara…_

_From Sakura._

Sakura gently blew onto the ink to help it dry faster, as soon as she was sure it was dry enough, she rolled up the scroll and went over to the office for a messenger shinobi to deliver a message to Haru.

* * *

I'm sorry…this really sucks…that's what I think. I received a few (interesting) comments I don't really like but I guess you gotta welcome all opinions neh!

Not in a particularly good mood today so yea…I nearly wrote Haru as Haku…and if that ever happens…I meant Haru not Haku…

The next fic might take a while for me to write but I will always do my best for you people! Especially when I'm in a good mood!

See yaz. And there's something seriously wierd going on in Fanfiction dot net...


	19. Returning

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

'Three months…it's been three months since I last saw him…Gaara-Kun…' she thought to herself as she stood by the main gates of Konoha.

"Are you Miss Haruno?" she saw a person wearing the usual uniform of a shinobi walk up to her.

"Yes?" she turned and looked at him, he was wearing a forehead protector of the Hidden Village of Mist.

"Here is a letter for you." He bowed as he handed her the letter.

"Thank you." She took it and the shinobi left in a puff of smoke. She opened it slowly and read out the letter in her head.

_Hey Sakura_

_How's it going? I'll be back to visit sometime in the week. Hope you didn't miss me too much! Chiyako misses you too but she's doing fine here with me, I'll be bringing her with me though._

_The village is looking pretty good and it's almost back to normal! Just a few more repairs and we're done. But don't worry too much about us. Chiyako is undergoing practice to becoming a ninja like you. That's what she told me anyways._

_She says she doesn't like the other two people she's with but she said that once she becomes a Chounin, she won't have to care about them anymore! Can you believe that!_

_So anyways, I hope to see you soon and Chiyako is screaming at me right now…She says she misses you, plenty of times already and she can't wait to see you again._

_I'll see you soon!_

_From Haru and Chiyako._

She could almost hear them in her head as she read the letter, she couldn't help but smile. When she was about to walk off, someone called out her name.

"SAKURA-NEE-CHAN!" her eyes widened when she heard that voice, she turned around and she saw Chiyako running up to her with arms held out as if to hug her.

"CHIYAKO-CHAN!" she smiled as she ran up to her as well.

"Hey! Don't forget me too!" she looked up and saw Haru behind her.

"HARU! I just got your letter! Look!" Sakura held up the letter for him to see.

"Ah, that was suppose to get here yesterday or something." He laughed as he scratched his head.

"It's great to see you again." She smiled at him but she felt something tug at her dress.

"What about me?" Chiyako pouted up her lips at her.

"And I miss you too." She smiled as she cocked her head to her who returned it with a grin of her own.

"So, what have you been since I was gone?" Haru spoke as he looked at Chiyako.

"Oh, nothing's changed since the last few letters I wrote." She gazed at the little girl beside her while Haru's smile disappeared from his face.

**Flashback**

_"Haru-San! I have a message for you." A shinobi of the Mist spoke as he ran up to the said person._

_"Oibita-San, nice to see you!" Haru waved and ran up to meet him halfway._

_"Here you go, so who's this mystery person you've been writing to?"he spoke as he handed the scroll over to Haru._

_"A friend of mine that lives in Konoha." Haru smiled._

_"Well, I'll leave you to your reading then." He waved and disappeared in a cloud of smoke._

_"Haru-ni-chan! Is that from Sakura-nee-chan?" Chiyako yelled out as she ran up to him._

_"Yea." He smiled as he unrolled the scroll and began to read it in his head._

_Haru,_

_I'm having difficulty here, it's been almost three months and you're not back yet, it's been almost three months and Gaara's not back yet. You said you would come back in a month but I guess something's just can't be planned now can they?_

_It's getting harder, without you here I find it hard to concentrate for anything. I can't do missions without getting seriously injured and now I'm on leave because Tsunade-Sama thinks I can't handle it._

_It's been too long, too long without you or Gaara. It's getting harder, please come back. I need you._

_Sakura._

_Haru's smile disappeared as he read the letter and Chiyako began to grow worried._

_"What's wrong Haru-ni-chan? Is something wrong with Sakura-nee-chan?" she tugged onto his shorts. He put on a smile for Chiyako and spoke as merrily as he could without sounding too fake._

_"Guess what! We're going to Konoha to visit Sakura!" he smiled at her as her face changed from concern to happiness._

_"REALLY? I CAN'T WAIT, I'LL GO PACK NOW!" she yelled out as she ran off to the house she and Haru were staying in. As soon as she was gone, he re-read the letter and couldn't help but grow more and more worried for the pink haired shinobi. He walked off home to write a letter to Sakura and pack for the journey to Konoha._

**End flashback…**

"Why don't we go get something to eat?" she spoke as she ran her fingers through Chiyako's hair.

"Ok! I want ramen!" she smiled as she ran off into the village.

"Hey! You don't even know where it is!" Haru ran after her and Sakura followed.

* * *

"He's not back yet?" he spoke as he looked at her from the corner of his eye…She stopped eating and looked at down at her bowl. Chiyako's slurps could be heard.

"I guess not, you wouldn't have been waiting at the gates then." He placed his chopsticks down and turned his head towards her.

"It's been three months, Haru…he said he would be back in one month. He promised."

"You and I know that he promised no such thing, you just did it for him to make yourself feel better."

"But he said he would be back in one month." Her voice grew louder as she clenched her hands.

"He said he would try, it wasn't guaranteed." He couldn't hear her slurps anymore.

"I shouldn't be here, I should be out there searching for him. I should be there to look after him. But I'm here instead." She was almost screaming now, even Chiyako looked intimidated by her.

"Sakura-nee-chan? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She got up from her seat and left some money on the counter for their orders.

"Where are you going?" he grabbed her hand, his voice was soft but threatening.

"I'm going to see the Hokage." She flung his hand away from her and she left without another word.

"Damn…" he whispered out as he performed a few handseals.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." Another clone of himself appeared and stayed behind with Chiyako while the real one chased after Sakura.

"And just what do you intend to tell Hokage-Sama?" he ran up beside her.

"I'm going after Gaara, I'm sick and tired of waiting. I can't wait any longer." She jumped off onto a roof but Haru followed her.

"You can't go by yourself, you need at least a full platoon to go with you!" he grabbed her arm.

"Whatever then! As long as I get to go find Gaara!" she forcefully pulled back her arm but Haru held on.

"I can't let you make such a stupid decision. Your thoughts are being clouded by your impulses, think Sakura." He glared at her, she felt intimidated by him because he had never given her that look before but her face remained the same.

"Let me go, I have to do this."

"I can't allow you to do this, don't make me hurt you."

"You couldn't hurt me even if you-" she was cut off by a punch into her abdomen.

"Haru…" she whispered out before she fell into unconsciousness.

"Forgive me, Sakura…"

* * *

Sakura eventually woke up but it wasn't her room she woke up in. She was lying on a couch in an office of some sort but she couldn't focus properly because her vision was blurred. As she glanced around, she saw scrolls on the table and on the shelves and some documents of the ninjas in the village. She got up and walked up to the desk but stopped when she heard voices.

"Please, let me do this for Sakura." She heard a muffled voice on the other side of the door.

"This doesn't concern you, so why do you bother?" she heard a female voice as she creaked opened the door slightly.

"I care for her, and she really misses him. He should've been back two months ago. At least let us check up on him." She saw Haru plead for the request.

"He could be in trouble and we're just standing here doing nothing."

"I know you don't care much for the sand-nin so why do you persist when my you've already heard my answer?" she saw Tsunade take a seat behind her desk.

"Please, just a three man team is enough. Me, Neji and Sasuke. Heck, I'll go alone if I have to!" he was almost yelling now, growing more and more frustrated.

"Would you sacrifice your own life for the sake of making Sakura happy?" she stared at him.

"Of course, she's the closest thing to a family I have, she's important to me." He looked down at the floor.

"Then you shouldn't have hit her." She smiled slightly.

"I regret doing that, but I rather that I bring back Gaara myself than sending out Sakura without anybody to go with her." He looked at her with such determination in his eyes, she couldn't refuse the next time.

"Fine, you can go, as well as Neji, Sasuke and Naruto. A full platoon will do, will it not?" she smiled at him as his face brightened up.

"Thank you Hokage-Sama." He bowed to her.

"Go get them and come back here for your briefing. And Sakura can come in now." She smiled at the slightly opened door and Sakura gulped. Haru turned around to find a seemingly shocked Sakura standing by the door.

"Sakura…" he didn't know else what to say to her as he just stood there and watched the expressions on her face.

* * *

Sorry for the lateness of this…The server was…it had a jam I suppose you could say…something about a traffic of some sort…Anyways, I tried really hard to get in, you have no idea how many times I tried to login in just one day!

Ah! What a torment!

THAT'S RIGHT! SERVERS OVERLOADED! THAT'S THE WORD I'M LOOKING FOR! YEA!

Would you consider that as a writer's block? Or just server overload? I dunno eh!


	20. Mission of retrieval

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Hate this soo much…not the fic…the site…it's getting complicated…can't write in Microsoft word…this sucks…bad mood…won't talk…can't write much…but still writing…damn it…any idea what a writer's block is? 

PS: I want pictures of the characters in the Naruto series to be in a funeral too, plus the episodes and key chains. The Naruto playstation or xbox game, even the gameboy games too! I'll take them all to heaven and play all day. Don't forget my laptop in case I get to update when I'm up there.

* * *

"Haru…" Sakura spoke as she walked up to him as he packed. 

"What is it?" he didn't take his eyes of his bad as he checked in his pouch.

"I'm sorry…" she looked down at her feet.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, I should be the one apologizing for hitting you." He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"You didn't have much of a choice, I'm sorry for acting on just my impulses, I really want him back Haru." She looked up at him, tears filling up in her eyes.

"Please don't cry, I hate to see you cry. You make me feel so responsible." He smiled slightly.

"It's not funny…" she leered at him.

"I'll bring him back, I promise." His smile grew wider.

**Flashback…**

_"I promise, Sakura-Chan. I will bring back Sasuke for you!" Naruto then grinned his trademark grin along with the good guy pose and left, followed by Chouji, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru and Neji._

_"That was a nice pose." Lee spoke as he looked at Sakura's shaking form. She wept as she watched them leave to bring back Sasuke._

**End flashback…**

"Haru, you and Naruto are too much alike, but in a good way." She smiled back at him after remembering that event.

"Really? I don't think so." He pouted his lips as he went over to his bag.

"I'm meeting them at the gates now, you wanna come and say goodbye to us?"

"It's not goodbye, it's see you later."

"Sure, sure, whatever." He waved it off.

* * *

"You guys come back safe alright?" Sakura spoke as she looked at each of them. 

"Don't worry, Sakura-Chan! We'll bring him back for sure!" Naruto grinned at her.

"Hey, I was gonna say that!" Haru glared at him.

"Too bad, I said it first!" he stuck his tongue out at him.

"In that case, I'll bring him back even if I have to force him!" Haru retaliated.

"EH! NO FAIR!" he glared at him and he did the same. Sakura sweat-dropped as she watched the two of them fight.

'Wow, talk about brothers…' she thought to herself.

"Let's go…" Neji didn't want to watch them fight anymore and made a move to leave, Sasuke did the same.

"There you go being the leader again!" Haru shouted out at Neji but he ignored it.

"Fine!" he pouted his lips and left.

"Bye Sakura! Look after yourself because I made sure Chiyako's gonna be watching you!" he smiled and waved.

"Bye Sakura-Chan!" Naruto waved and ran up to the others.

'Naruto and Haru are so nice to me.' She smiled and walked back home where Chiyako was waiting for her.

* * *

"Can we have ramen? Can we have ramen? Please, please, please? Pretty please with a shuriken on top?" Chiyako spoke as she made a puppy dog pout. 

"Why ramen?"

"Because it's so good!" she smiled at her while Sakura sweat-dropped.

'Naruto, what have you done to her? Or should I say Haru?' at that point she confused herself with which one to say.

"Sakura-nee-chan." She tugged onto her dress with an angry but cute face.

"You look so cute when you're angry!" Sakura smiled as she patted her on the head.

"Let's go get some ramen then."

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Naruto asked as he jumped from a branch to another. 

"We just left half an hour ago, dope" Sasuke leered at Naruto.

"Fine." Naruto squinted his eyes and pouted his lips.

* * *

"Yummy ramen!" Chiyako smiled as she finished the last of her noodles. 

"Ok then, shall we go?"

"One more please!" Chiyako yelled out cheerfully to the owner behind the stall.

"What? That's your third one already!"

"But I'm hungry!" she smiled at her.

'Naruto…or Haru, when you get back, I'll kill you…' Sakura thought to herself as the bowl for Chiyako came and the girl happily dug into her bowl.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Haru asked this time as he ran. 

"It's the same answer as before." Neji responded giving him a scornful look.

"…Fine…"

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan! Where can we go now?" she skipped happily in front of Sakura. 

"Let's go, um…look for…um…I don't know." She scratched her head.

"Let's go get some more ramen!" she cheered happily as she ran off but Sakura grabbed her by the collar.

"We just had ramen a while ago!"

"But there isn't anything else to do!"

"It doesn't mean you should pig out on ramen!"

"Let's get some udon then!" she smiled mischievously at Sakura.

"No…"

"Please?" Chiyako begged with her hands clasped in front of her.

"No…"

"Pretty please with a kunai on top?" she made another puppy dog pout.

'Damn, too much like Naruto and Haru, but cuter.' She thought as she sweat-dropped.

"One bowl." Sakura finally gave in.

"Yay!"

* * *

"Please, somebody tell me if we're there yet?" Naruto asked as they stopped for a rest. 

"No Naruto, we're not there yet! It's only been an hour!" Sasuke yelled back at him.

"Mou…I want ramen…" Naruto took a seat on the ground with his arms crossed.

"We'll rest for five minutes and move out again." Neji looked at them as he leaned on a tree.

"There you go being the leader again…I just don't get it…" Haru shook his head while Naruto agreed with him.

* * *

"That's two bowls already Chiyako…" she stared at her. 

'I can't believe she can eat so much for a little girl…'

"Last bowl! I promise." She grinned up at her.

"Good, because you kinda eating out of my pocket here…"

"Sorry, Sakura-nee-chan!" she smiled and went back to eating her udon.

"The udon is nice! But I prefer ramen!" she giggled while Sakura paid for the bill not too happy.

'Must kill one of the two when they get back…' she thought to heself.

* * *

"We there yet? It's been two hours already…" Haru asked while he leaned one hand on a tree and gasped for air. 

"What is it with you and Naruto!" Sasuke flared at them.

"Can't help it Sasuke-Baka." Naruto glared at him.

"Shut up dope…"

"But seriously! When are we gonna get there!" Haru asked again.

"Don't know, maybe in another hour or so." Neji spoke as he closed his eyes.

"Yea, so stop asking and deal with it!" Sasuke continued for Neji.

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan!" she gently tugged on her dress. 

"No! No more ramen or udon or soba or whatever!"

"Um…I just wanted to warn you before you stepped on the doggie poo poo but you already did…"

Sakura took a look at her sandals and she was indeed steeping on dog poop. She sweat-dropped.

"I tried to warn you…"

"I'm gonna go home and take a shower…"

* * *

Haru looked at Naruto and the blonde did the same. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared over their heads and they gave each other a grin. Naruto put up one finger and mouthed out the word one, then two, then three.

"Are we-" they spoke in unison but Neji and Sasuke were prepared for that.

"WE'RE NOT THERE YET!" they shouted back at the two.

'Damn it…'

* * *

'Almost home, I can take a shower, I can take these shoes off, maybe burn them and get a new one.' Sakura thought to herself as she dragged herself back home with Chiyako happily skipping behind her.

'Well at least she's happy, I can be a little bit happy too. They're bring back Gaara after all.' And with that thought, she smiled to herself.

* * *

"We're here." Neji finally halted at the edge of their country, just beyond the horizon is the Hidden village of Sound, where the upcoming war was. And in it, there Gaara would be.

"I won't get fooled by that, it's only been less than an hour Neji." Naruto pouted his lips and looked away from them.

"No, Naruto, look." Haru spoke as he got up beside Neji looking over the cliff.

"No, not you too Haru!"

"Look at it dope!" Sasuke dragged Naruto over to the border where he gapped at the sight.

"Told you so…"

* * *

Don't forget my roses! I want red ones! Or white ones, whichever is prettier when decorated around me! Waahahaha!

Until next time!


	21. A bloody idiot

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

When ASweetKissFromPoisonedLips threw something at me…I thought it was a rcok! Wahahaha! Then I re-read it and it was a rose! Waahahaaa! Thank you thank you! (Bows down)

And also! I got a review for chapter 20 in like one hour and I was like 'Huh?' but then I thought that it might be for chapter 19 instead but I read it anyway and I found out it was for chapter 20 and so again I was like 'Huh?' Wahahaha! So funny!

* * *

"So, how are we gonna get in the village?" Sasuke asked as he kneeled at the edge of the cliff with his Sharingan activated.

"I'm scanning the area at the moment." Neji spoke as he looked around with his Byakugan.

'Ok…scary…freaky eyes…' Haru thought as he distanced himself away from the two.

"Ano sa ano sa…can we eat?" said a certain blonde at the back of the three.

"Ramen? I'll join you." Haru took a seat beside Naruto and opened up his pack.

"Wah! Ramen! You got chicken ramen, I like miso. It's the best." Naruto grinned childishly at Haru.

"No way, chicken it the ultimate flavor! And you call yourself a ninja, hah!" he snffed his nose at the blonde shinobi.

"Yea? At least I'm traditional you backstabber of the ninjas."

"Che! Traditional is boring now, chicken is the new miso!"

"WELL-" Naruto was about to yell back but Sasuke cut him off.

"WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP ALREADY! Geez…"

"I've spotted Gaara, you can't really miss his hair and gourd, plus a huge amount of sand in the middle of the village." Neji informed them as he looked into his bag.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!" Naruto shouted as he jumped to his feet.

"Yea! I'm ready for anything!" he yelled out as he punched the air.

"There's patrols on the roof of the buildings and the gates, not so much on the ground. The south side is the weakest so we'll head in from there. We can communicate through these." Neji spoke as he took the ear pieces and handed it to each of them.

"You know the drill, I'm Alpha, Naruto is Beta, Sasuke is Sigma and Haru is Theta. The whole as a group will be Omega."

"There you go being the leader again! I should get these ear pieces and then maybe I'll be the leader next time." Haru laughed as he placed the piece to his ear.

"Um, what's the deal with these?" Naruto asked as he stared at the ear piece.

"…We've used them before dope, remember the cat mission?" Sasuke glared at him.

"Oh that! I remember now. What am I again?"

"You're Beta." Neji replied as he took out a piece of paper and drew the outlook of the village.

"We're here right now, but we'll go in through here. Our mission is to bring back Gaara, but we'll help around if necessary. If you get into any trouble, either call for back-up, try to escape or fight if the other options is not possible. But it's better if we try to avoid any conflict." Neji looked up from the map and gave each of them a glance before continuing.

"We'll just get in and get out. Quick and easy. Our formations will be Haru at the front, Naruto, Sasuke and then me. The last time I saw Gaara he was here." He pointed at the center of them map.

"Take another look." The raven haired cocked his head to the direction of the village and Neji complied.

"He's moved to here now." His finger shifted a little to the left.

"Remember, avoid any possible conflict. Our mission and goal is to retrieve Gaara, if you can't bring him back willingly, then do it by force. Naruto, that's your job since you've fought him once before."

"Don't forget the demon!" Naruto grinned at them.

"Right…the demon." They sweat-dropped.

"What demon? Who's a demon? I don't see any demon!" Haru exaggerated by looking around with his hand to his forehead.

"Sit down already." Naruto pulled on his shirt and made him fall on his behind.

"Ouch." Haru glared at Naruto.

"Once we get in, Haru will move off to the left, Sasuke will be off to the right, Naruto off to the center along with me. Don't forget to communicate through these." He spoke as he pointed to his ear piece and they nodded.

"Any questions before we go? I don't wanna hear yours." Neji spoke as he looked over at him, Haru sweat-dropped as he slowly lowered his hand.

"Why you instead of me? I've fought Gaara before." Sasuke stared at Neji as he flared his Sharingan at him.

"It might get personal for you, and I can block his flow of chakra with my blood line limit." Sasuke glared at Neji but he looked away.

"Anymore questions? Not including yours Haru." Haru pouted as he lowered his hand once more. Neji looked around, avoiding Haru's eyes and saw that nobody had anything else to say. He turned around and looked into the village and saw that Gaara was still in the same place.

"Alright then, let's move out."

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan? What are you thinking about?" a childish voice spoke to her.

"Nothing much really, just about some stuffs." She replied to the girl not turning around to meet her curious gaze.

"Can I borrow your kunai or shuriken?" the girl asked.

"What for?" the pink-haired ninja finally turned, aroused by the curiosity as to why Chiyako would want to borrow a weapon.

"I wanna do target practice because I wanna get better when I get back to Mist! But I don't wanna leave Konoha because I wanna stay here with you and Haru! And also because there's ramen here!" she smiled happily at Sakura.

"Why don't I be your moving target and we can practice together? I could work on my speed to dodge you." Sakura smiled as she took out a kunai from her pouch.

"But moving targets are so hard! We're no up to that yet!"

"You'll be an expert by the time you get back!" she stuck her tongue out at her.

"Really? Let's go then!"

* * *

"Geez, is this freaking thing working? Do I still have to say 'over' Neji?"

"Don't say my name Naruto! And it's working fine you idiot!"

"We can hear you all the way to the east and west areas guys…" they heard Haru's voice on the other side.

"Shut up. Report you status, over." Neji spoke as he ran, hitting anybody on their pressure points to knock them out cold for a while.

"What about me? Over?" Naruto spoke as he ran behind Neji.

"You, shut up." He spoke as he knocked someone else out cold.

"Fine…" he pouted his lips as he ran after Neji.

"Theta to Omega, everything is peachy here. Over."

"Sigma to Omega, same here but not as 'peachy'. Over." He spoke in an almost sarcastic voice while Naruto was trying not to laugh his head off.

"Peachy, can't believe he said that." Naruto spoke in between little fits of laughs.

As Neji and Naruto neared the destination of Gaara, the smeared blood on the ground and walls became more frequent. And as they grew closer to where Gaara was, the sound of weapons clashing and the screamed on the people dying grew louder. Neji noticed that there was a thin layer of sand of the ground, and it was slowly shifting to where Gaara possibly was.

When they got to where Gaara was, he had just killed another sound ninja with his 'Sabaku Kyuu' technique, and blood sprayed everywhere, even he was covered from head to toe in blood. It was disgusting and scary.

"Hey! Look who's here to the rescue!" Naruto shouted out to him with a wave.

You'd expect Gaara to say somewhere along the lines of 'Glad you guys could make it, I was getting sick of killing and blood.' But no…he just stared wide eyed at them with a frustrated look in the face and shouted out.

"What the hell are you doing here!"

Naruto fell over anime-style.

"What! We came all the way over here to save your ass and all you say is 'What the hell are you doing here!' Geez, you're such an ass!" Naruto sweat-dropped.

"I never asked for your freaking help! Now get lost!" Gaara shouted back at him as he made his sand crawl over to its next prey.

"Our freaking mission is to bring you back to Konoha, whether you like it or not!"

"I don't need you help and I'm not going back to Konoha until my mission is finished!" he closed his fists and it began to rain blood on him again.

"Gaara! You're a bloody idiot! LITERALLY!" Naruto shouted out to him while avoiding the blood as much as he could.

* * *

There you go! Gaara's back! Ya happy!

So hungry…must eat dinner…haven't eaten since…last night…must eat…

Did I spell Haru as Haku again? I dunno, but I keep on reading over and over again but I can't see it!


	22. Demon Brothers

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

For eisshi louisse, I have never heard of a Kiba and Sakura fic before, either that or I never looked hard enough. Ehehehe.

But if you want, I can try and make a Kiba and Sakura fic?

* * *

"I said I didn't need your help! What do I have to do to make you realize that?" Gaara shouted at him as he performed Suna Bunshin no Jutsu.

"Well, too bad! Because I made a promise to Sakura-Chan that I'd bring you back!" at that point Haru shouted in his ear.

"HEY! YOU'RE FORGETTING ME!"

"Oh yea, and Haru too…"

"Sakura? Is she here?" he took a glance around but couldn't see anything that was pink. Only red.

Blood.

"She's not here, the old hag took her off the active roster for missions because she keeps on getting distracted by you."

"What did I do!" Gaara yelled at him.

"YOU LEFT, YOU ASSHOLE!" Naruto shouted back at him but this time, Gaara couldn't think of anything to say back.

"Come on, the sooner we get back the sooner Sakura-chan can get off our backs. In a good way." Naruto smiled stupidly at him.

"I'm not done here yet." Gaara looked down as he prepared himself in a fighting stance, Naruto was about to shout his head off at him but Haru come in time to stop the blonde from exploding.

"We can assign another team to take over what you've been doing, come on, Sakura really misses you. Don't make her wait any longer."

"But, I'm not done here yet."

"Don't you miss her too?" Haru spoke as Naruto paid close attention to Gaara's reaction. First, it was confusion, then pain, followed by sadness.

"Gaara?" Naruto spoke gently to the said red-head and he nodded.

"Yea, I miss her."

"Then? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Naruto was about to run off when Haru grabbed his collar and he fell back with a thud.

"What the heck was that for!"

"We have to re-do our former plans to fit with Gaara's." He spoke while still holding onto Naruto's shirt.

"Can't we just leave!" he shouted at Haru and yanked his collar off.

"We're on the verge of destroying the village, we have to at least kill a majority of their ninjas." Neji spoke as he came into view of the three.

"These are only chounin level ninjas, I think Orochimaru is saving the stronger ones for later, when the offensive is weaker." The last member with raven hair joined them just after Neji did.

"We have to formulate a plan, a different one." Neji looked around with his Byakugan and he could see a few platoons coming their way. "We can either stay and fend them off as much as we can, or leave and come back later."

"If we leave, we'll have to start all over again." Haru spoke as he took a look around and saw something flash by from the corner of his eye.

"Then we'll stay, I can go all night if I have to." Naruto grinned and did a good guy pose.

"Don't be so optimistic, dope." Sasuke glared at the blonde as he crossed his arms.

"At least I'm not being a pessimist, Sasuke-bastard." Naruto sneered at him but looked away when he noticed the sand on the ground shifting slightly. 'Something is not right…' he thought to himself as he stared at the sand but turned back to face Neji. "So, what's the plan?"

"We'll hit them as hard as we can and we'll retreat at nightfall. Then we'll call for back-up after that and leave when they arrive."

"Sounds fair enough. Don't forget to give Gaara an ear piece." Haru smiled as he smirked at Neji who handed the said item to the red-head. He visibly grew disgusted at the sight of it.

"I hate those damn things…" he glared at it as he took it from Neji.

"Live with it, for now at least." Neji took another look around and saw that they were surrounded by low-level ninjas. "Meet at the rendezvous point when the sun sets, I'll stay with Gaara. Retreat if possible. Don't forget to call for back-up if it's needed." Neji spoke as he tapped at his ear piece and everybody nodded their heads, Gaara excluded. With a nod of his own head, they moved into the village, getting rid of any obstacles and enemies when sighted.

"Don't forget." He spoke one last time as the other headed off, leaving both Gaara and himself behind. Slowly getting into positions, the sand on the ground continue to shift and jerk agitatedly.

"You don't seem excited." Neji peered over at the red head shinobi.

"Yea, I'm dead tired."

"What did you do for three months? Fight continuously?" Neji looked around with his Byakugan and calculated how many ninjas there were.

"Pretty much, I never gave them enough time to recuperate." Gaara spoke as he commanded his sand to be on guard.

"How about this then, the most kills wins, starting now." He smirked as he gave the red head a glance.

"I've killed more than my fair share." Gaara glared at him.

"Then you lose and I win by default."

"Whatever." At that point he couldn't help but smirk at Neji. It was enjoyable being with them again. Like old times.

* * *

"I win…" Gaara panted at he reached the hill. The mission wasn't a success but they killed enough to keep the ninjas of Sound at bay for the moment time being.

"Only by one…" Neji tried to talk back, but he did lose.

"So, how's Sakura?" Gaara finally straightened himself up and took a deep breath in.

"It's been depressing to watch her. Almost like the time her parents died." he spoke as he stretched himself, giving his back a good crack.

"You get depressed by watching her?" Gaara asked out of curiosity.

"No, but it's the aura she gives off. It's depressing." He & around to see the others coming.

"You've been watching her?" Gaara couldn't help but sneer at him a little bit but also directing his focus on Naruto, Haru and Sasuke as they came running closer.

"She tries to hide it, but her mask cracks every once in a while."

"I see." He remained silent until everyone caught up to them at the hill.

"Have you guys called for back-up yet?" Sasuke managed to huff out.

"Yea, just after we left the village." Neji confirmed.

"What's our status?" The mist shinobi panted out as he stood up straight with hands on his hips.

"We didn't do much damage to the village, but we managed to dent their forces. They won't be able to fight for a while, at least I hope." Neji spoke as he looked at each of them.

"When will the re-enforcements arrive?" the raven haired boy asked as he sat down on the floor, Naruto joining him as well but with a grin of his face.

"What the hell are you being happy for, dope."

"None of your god damned business Sasuke-baka…" the blonde shinobi sneered back at him.

"In a few days, so we'll have to hold out until then before we can go back." Neji replied as he used a Genjutsu technique to conceal them. "They won't be able to see us unless they end up sensing us, so keep a low profile."

"I'll patrol…" Gaara volunteered himself, since he doesn't sleep.

"Why?" Naruto squinted his eyes at him.

"I want to be alone." The red head turned around and walked off to the far side of the cliff.

"Great! I'll join you!" Naruto ran after him while the others sweat-dropped.

'That baka can't be that dense…' Sasuke thought to himself.

* * *

"What does_ alone_ mean to you?" Gaara asked Naruto as he sat by the edge.

"Something I don't wanna know."

"Why?"

"I don't want to be alone, it reminds me of the times when I was younger, when I was alone. It was hellish." Naruto smiled at him.

"I see."

"Do you want to go back? Because as much as I really want to keep my promise, I don't think it's right for me to drag you back to Sakura." He looked away, looking over the horizon.

"You went after Sasuke, why am I different?"

"He was corrupted, you weren't."

* * *

"Achoo!" Sasuke sniffed.

"Bless you…" Neji said while leaning on a tree with his eyes closed.

"…"

"It's polite to excuse yourself after you sneezed." Haru looked over at him.

"Right…"

'Who the hell is talking about me? Not that I care…'

* * *

"What are you trying to say? I'm not worth your effort of you dragging me back to her?"

"That's not it…" Naruto spoke as he looked down at his dangling feet.

"Then?" Gaara was starting to get frustrated but kept his composure.

"You're like a brother to me, I wouldn't drag you back unless I've reasoned with you already."

"Ah…"

Gaara felt touched having heard those words coming from Naruto. Sure he already had Kankurou but Naruto was different, similar to him in a way. As the sun was setting in the horizon, they enjoyed each other's company and silence. Although Naruto never liked silence because it reminded him too much of when he was alone, he didn't mind if it was with Gaara.

* * *

I'm sorry, recently my rabbit died, so yea…Send all the roses to my little rabbit.

But I'm over it, I think…So yea…


	23. Coming home

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

I have seemingly lost my inspiration for this fic…probably because of my little rabbit, but it's not forgotten. My holiday is coming up in a week or less so I have time to update lots during that time, yeah…

Cheers.

Thanks for all the roses, I'm sure my bunny appreciates it.

* * *

"It's been almost three days already! It only takes three days to get to Sand and it's even further away than Sound!" Sasuke shouted out as he stabbed a Sound nin in his abdomen.

"We'll just have to wait until they arrive!" Haru yelled back while he performed a water elemental technique.

"This is stupid."

"Think of it as training then, since you _love_ to train."

"Shut up."

* * *

"How many are you up to?" Neji panted as he readied himself for the oncoming attack from a platoon of chounins.

"100, but I was being nice to them." Gaara spoke calmly as he used his sand to do all the fighting and killing for him.

"Che…" Neji smirked at him.

* * *

"Why do I have to fight alone? This is soooo stupid! I hate it!" Naruto yelled out as he clenched and unclenched his fists over and over again.

"Boy, pay attention when you're fighting or else I might kill you."

"Shut up, I don't have time for a guy like you."

"Why you little brat, you'll pay for those words." The masked nin growled at him and charged to Naruto.

"Eat THIS!" Naruto yelled out as he delivered a punch to the shinobi's face.

"Kiss my ass, you bastard." Naruto sneered at the fallen nin and walked away from his area, in search of anybody, but preferably Gaara or Haru.

* * *

"Do you think Naruto would be angry for making him fight alone?" Haru asked Sasuke as he finished of the last of the platoons.

"Wouldn't know, don't care."

"You don't care about Naruto? Why? You guys were on the same team."

"Doesn't matter, I'd rather fight alone. He always gets in my way and I have to rescue him."

"That's what team-mates are for. They look out for each other."

"Yea…"

* * *

"…I don't know which way to go, everywhere I turn, I see Sound-nins…" Naruto talked to himself as he turned a corner, and sure enough, he bumped into a platoon of chounin level Sound shinobis.

"Speak of the devil, or devils I should say." Naruto sneered at them.

"Get him!" one of the masked nins shouted out as him and his group of followers ran up to him with a kunai or shuriken in hand. Naruto prepared himself for a seemingly short fight since he was angry for being left alone.

"I'm damned pissed off, but I guess I can take it all out on you freaks!" Naruto started to perform his favourite technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

* * *

"They're coming." Neji spoke as he stared through the building, Gaara wonders why he was almost glaring at the building with such disgusts but realized that he was using his Byakugan so he decided to shrug it off.

"Good. I need a bath." Gaara slumped forward a bit but glared at the next arrival of enemy ninjas.

"They seem to be coming by the dozen…"

"It would seem so…"

* * *

"Goddammit! Where the hell is everybody when ya need them!" Naruto threw his arms in the air as he yelled out with all his might, with a low growl he walked off in a different direction with hands in his pockets.

* * *

"Neji…" Gaara looked at him from the corner of his eye while still in a fighting position.

"What."

"Do you like Sakura." the red head couldn't help but leer at him a little bit. It was more of a statement than a question though.

"Why." Speaking as he looked around with his Byakugan.

"You kissed her."

Neji remained silent, trying to find the right words to express how he feels about her and also not to make Gaara jump down his throat. When Neji drew in a breath to say something, he was interrupted by the three platoons to take over their jobs.

"I'm sorry we're late, we fell behind schedule. We can take over from here on out." One of the Konoha-nins named Suchi spoke. Neji nodded to him and was about to leave when he spoke again. "And also, Tsunade-Sama would like to speak with all of you when you return. You must go there straight away."

"Fine." Neji nodded once more and departed to find the others.

* * *

"Alpha and Gamma to Theta, Sigma and Beta. Report to base for return home, over."

"Roger that, leaving positions now."

"Signing off."

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan…when is Haru-nii-chan coming back?" the little girl beside the pink haired shinobi spoke.

"I don't know, but I hope they come back soon."

"Ok, can we get some ramen?" Chiyako smiled innocently as Sakura's eye twitched.

"You just had one an hour ago."

"Yeah, but that was only one, I want another one. Please! Pretty please with a katana on top?" she pouted her lips and batted her eyes at Sakura who returned it with another twitch.

"Last one…" Sakura gave in as Chiyako leaped for joy and ran off to Ichiraku Ramen while Sakura walked after her. 'I've gone broke…I need a mission…'

* * *

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto yelled and pointed to Sasuke and Haru as they made their appearance.

"Sorry?" Haru scratched the back of his head with one hand and smiled half-heartedly.

"Can we go now?" Naruto turned around to stare at Neji who was leaning on a tree.

"Yeah, sure." Neji pushed himself off the tree and gathered his pack and walked off, followed by the others. "We have to report to Hokage-Sama as soon as we set foot in the village."

"What? I wanna eat ramen as soon as I get back." Naruto slouched forward as he stared at Neji in disbelief.

"Hokage's order. No complaints." Neji didn't even turn around to look at the blonde, but continued walking off anyway.

"Don't worry, we can eat ramen as soon as we're done with Hokage-sama." Haru smiled at Naruto as he walked beside him but whispered into his ear. "I bet I can eat more than you."

"Is that a challenge?" Naruto smirked at him.

"Hell yeah."

"You're on!" Naruto did a high five with him as they ran off back home. Neji walked along side with Gaara with a bit of distance between them while Sasuke remained at the back. Although Neji didn't exactly walk beside Gaara, he couldn't help but feel that he was right there, right beside him. Soon and yet no soon, he fell to the back and Gaara followed.

"What were you gonna say before we got interrupted?" Gaara spoke while he walked in front of Neji with his arms crossed. The said person remained quiet, thinking back of what he should say and how he should say it. He drew in a breath.

"I'm in love with her."

Gaara's eyes widened when he heard those words and stopped dead on the way back. Sasuke, even though he was far away from them, he wasn't far enough from ear-shot. He too, stopped and tilted his head slightly to hear better.

"What…did you say?" Gaara turned his head and watched Neji from the corner of his eye.

"I'm in love with her. Or can you not comprehend what that means?" Neji narrowed his eyes at him as he fully turned around to meet his challenge.

"She's mine."

"She can never be yours." Sasuke spoke up as he walked up to them, both him and Neji standing on either side of Gaara.

"Nor yours." Gaara looked sideways to Sasuke.

"She can only belong to one person." Neji eyes shifted from Sasuke then Gaara.

'And that person is me.' They thought in unison.

* * *

Neh…that was a bit short no?

I got a new rabbit…just to help me get over my other one. They look kinda similar too. Hehe.


	24. A choice to be made

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

I know you must feel that there's a lot of Gaara and Sakura in this fic (which is my favourite couple AHEM) but don't worry, it won't stay that way forever…(laughs evilly)

AHEM! Cough cough…on with the fic.

AHEM AHEM…I'm a girl…read my profile…wahahaha!

* * *

**Previously…**

_"She's mine."_

_"She can never be yours." Sasuke spoke up as he walked up to them, both him and Neji standing on either side of Gaara._

_"Nor yours." Gaara looked sideways to Sasuke._

_"She can only belong to one person." Neji eyes shifted from Sasuke then Gaara._

_'And that person is me.' They thought in unison._

_

* * *

_

Once they were within sight of Konoha, Sasuke, Neji and Gaara dashed all the way to Tsunade's office, leaving Haru and Naruto behind.

"Ano…Why are they in such a hurry neh?" Naruto asked Haru as he made a sweat-drop.

"How would I know?" Haru shrugged it off.

"Let's go catch up with them or else the old hag will have our heads."

"Who's the old hag?"

"That's the fifth Hokage."

"She doesn't look that old…"

"WHAT! YOU DON'T KNOW! SHE'S ACTUALLY LIKE FIFTY OR SOMETHING!"

"No way!"

"Hell yea…"

Off they went to imagine what Tsunade would look like without that technique of hers, and they both shuddered at the thought of Tsunade as an old person with lots of wrinkles...

"I don't wanna know…"

"Me neither..."

"Let's go then…"

* * *

"HOKAGE-SAMA!" all three of them barged into the office where Tsunade was just sipping on her cup of warm sake.

"What?" Tsunade peered at them from behind her cup.

"Our report Hokage-sama." Neji puffed out.

"Ok, just write me out a report, it'll be easier that way." She motioned them to leave but they stayed behind anyway.

"We'll just say it here and now, reports take too much time." Gaara spoke as he regained his composure.

"I'm sure you've had a lot of time, considering that you were gone for so long." Tsunade stared at them suspiciously.

"Our mission to retrieve him was a success as you can see but-" Sasuke began but was cut off by Haru and Naruto.

"WE'RE HERE, WE'RE HERE!"

"Good, you do the reports." All three of them said at the same time and ran out of the door, leaving Naruto and Haru in the dust.

"Uh…what was that about?" Naruto asked Haru.

"I have no idea."

"Why do we have to do the reports?"

"I don't know…They seem more capable of doing it than us."

"What are you implying?"

"…Uh…nothing?"

"Yeah right."

"On with it people!" Tsunade slammed her fist onto the table and both of the remaining boys stared at her with wide eyes. And they both shuddered.

"What?" Tsunade leered at them.

"N-nothing."

* * *

"Neh Chiyako-chan? I have a feeling I'm being followed." Sakura turned around but didn't see anybody.

"I don't see anybody. Are you ok Sakura-nee-chan?" Chiyako gently tugged on her dress but Sakura smiled to her.

"Must be my imagination, don't worry." She smiled as she patted on Chiyako's head.

"Neh, can we get ramen?"

"No…" Sakura's eye twitched.

"What about-"

"No…"

"You didn't let me finish."

"You don't _need_ to finish."

"Pretty please with a senbon on top?" She batted her eyes to her but Sakura turned away.

"No…" Sakura spoke as she walked off with Chiyako following her. 'She's practically eating outta my wallet.'

"Meany…" she pouted her lips. Sakura turned around and stuck her tongue out at her which she happily returned. All of a sudden, she could feel the floor rumbling.

"Sakura-nee-chan? Is that an earthquake?" Chiyako asked as she held onto her dress.

"It's too small to be one, and also we don't have earthquakes in Konoha." Sakura scanned around and off in the distance, she was a large cloud of dust?

"Sakura-nee chan, what is it?" Sakura looked down at Chiyako who looked up with her very worried face.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. I promise." She spoke as she held onto Chiyako a little tighter, and as the cloud of dust began to grow bigger and come closer, Sakura couldn't help but feel a need of Haru's presence out of the blue.

"SAKURA!" the cloud of dust seemed to call out to her.

"What the!" Sakura scrutinized at the haze that came faster and faster, soon enough she could see three forms inside the screen of dirt and possible sand?

"SAKURA!"

"EH!"

* * *

"Geez, you guys look like you've just run a marathon!" Sakura laughed at the sight of Neji, Gaara and Sasuke.

"Sakura." Sasuke managed to pant out but she continued to speak.

"I didn't even know you guys were coming home today! Not that I mind, it's great to see you guys back, especially you Gaara."

"Sakura." Neji puffed out exhaustedly.

"And you even scared Chiyako-chan!" she laughed as she poked at the said girl's face. "By the way, where's Haru and Naruto?"

"Sakura, we need to talk." Gaara huffed out in a serious tone and Sakura began to worry.

"Oh my gosh, did something happen to them?"

"No, they're fine."

"Phew, got me worried there." She smiled at them as she cocked her head to the side. "So, what cha guys wanna talk about?"

"Sakura, who do you love most." Gaara asked, it was more of a demand than a question though.

"Wha? Why?" she was starting to feel intimidated by the looks on their faces. Determined, frustrated all at the same time.

"We need to know." Neji spoke.

"How can I possibly choose? I love all of you." She smiled nervously at them.

"Sakura, answer us." Sasuke demanded.

"I really can't answer that."

"But I'm dating you!"

'You left me for three months.' She thought to herself and as she opened her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by Sasuke.

"You've been in love with me since our academy days!"

'But you never returned my love for you.'

"I shared my first kiss with you!" Neji shouted out.

'That was accidental…'

And as they kept on putting more and more past memories into her, she couldn't help but explode at the sudden amount of stress she had to deal with.

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone backed off, even Chiyako took a step back at the huffing form of Sakura.

"I am not some trophy for you to keep!" she glared at them. "I'm a person! I have feelings!"

"But Sakura-" Neji began but was cut off by her.

"No buts! And until you can think straight, I'm leaving all of you and I won't talk to ANY of you until you learn to respect me! You got that!"

She didn't wait for an answer but left, dragging a poor Chiyako behind her, scared out of her wits.

"Great, now look what you've done." Gaara stared at her retreating figure.

"Excuse me!" Sasuke repulsed.

"You heard what I said! Now she's angry at me!"

"You mean us!" Neji shouted at Gaara.

"It was your fault! She was mine in the first place!" Gaara yelled back.

"NOT EVEN!"

* * *

There ya go, fresh new chapter for all of you…

So tired and hungry…and slightly sleepy. Did I mention hungry?


	25. Try and try again

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Come on people, cut me some slack here…I've got loads of assessments coming up not to mention I still have heaps of homework to do…

But I always aim for a minimum of four pages every time neh…

At least, I update kinda quick? Ehehehe…

* * *

"Sakura, I'm sorry but please! Talk to me, look at me! Anything!"Sasuke pleaded her which surprised her at first but she paid no attention to it. As Sakura thought about what he asked, he remained beside her, arms held out declaring for her to embrace them. Him and his look of frustration and determination all at once.

Slowly, she turned her head towards him. When he thought that she might actually hear him out, at the last second she turned away from him and walked off.

'Damn it Sakura…' he felt crushed when she chose to ignore him like the others, he gritted his teeth in aggravation.

* * *

"Sakura, is it right for you to ignore them? I mean, it's been almost a week already." Haru asked as he sipped his cup of tea.

"They need to learn to respect me, and until they do, I'll keep on ignoring them." She never looked away from her cup as she spoke. As if the mug of tea could tell her what to do next.

"But knowing them, they might fight to death for you."

"I don't care, I'm not a trophy."

"Sakura…"

"Don't."

He sighed and furrowed his brows in concern for the pink haired shinobi as she continued to stare into her cup of now lukewarm tea.

* * *

"Sakura, I'm going off with Naruto for training. You wanna come along?" Haru looked back at her after taking a step out of the front door.

"I wanna come too! Me too!" Chiyako dashed clumsily up to Haru and held onto the hem of his shirt.

"Yeah sure." She smiled as she got off her chair and followed them to the training grounds.

'I hope they're not there today, I can't cope seeing them like this…' she thought to herself as she walked beside Chiyako.

"I want ramen!" Chiyako beamed up at Sakura as they passed Ichiraku Ramen.

"No, you've eaten too much, it's bad for you." Sakura looked down at the little girl who pouted her lips at her.

"But Haru-nii-chan and Naruto-nii-chan eats it all the time!" she complained to her. Haru began to worry about being scolded by Sakura. An angry Sakura is never a happy Sakura…therefore should not be messed with.

Sakura glared daggers at Haru as he laughed nervously and held up his hands in defense.

"Hey, it's cheap…and filling?"

"Filling? Yeah right! She can eat like twenty bowls in one day!"

"That's not much…" he whispered out.

"What did you say? Because if you wanna say something then say it to my face!" she argued back.

"Neh Sakura-nee-chan, I don't wanna eat ramen anymore, please don't get angry…" Chiyako spoke as she gently tugged onto her dress with her eyes downcast. Sakura couldn't help but feel guilty and decided to improvise.

"Keep it to five bowls a day ok?"

"Hai!"

* * *

"Sakura-chan! Stop beating me up already! Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined as she continued to use her taijutsu moves on the poor blonde.

"Come on! Hey quit it! Mou…" he managed to duck a kick that was coming to his face but she used her momentum to spin on that spot and bring her foot back down to him. He jumped away from her at the last second.

"Geez what are you trying to do, kill me!"

"I don't have to be the one to kill you, you can do it without my help Naruto!" she charged up to him with a kunai in hand and some shurikens in the other. When she was close enough, she threw her shurikens at him but missed. Sensing that he was somewhere along her left, she threw it at where she thought that he might be but could only make do with a slash of his jacket.

"Gah! This is my favourite jacket! Now I have to ask Hinata-chan to fix it up for me again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, she offered me before. It's really nice of her though." He scratched his head with one hand and smiled at her. She continued to eye him as she gasped for air, hands on her knees.

"Neh, why don't you take a little break Sakura? It was suppose to be me training with Naruto." Haru smiled as he walked over to the pink haired shinobi.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Sakura waved them off with a flutter of her hand and she moved to the shady tree where Chiyako was sitting with eager eyes watching at them.

"Neh, neh Sakura-nee-chan! You were so good!" Chiyako shouted out her praise to her.

"Thanks Chiyako-chan. You'll be like that some day too. Or maybe even better neh."

"Really? Cool."

* * *

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Neji while the said person did the same. Neji activated his Byakugan while Sasuke's eyes flared Sharingan.

Teeth gritted in displeasure, fists clenched but holding back the urge to punch.

Finally, not wanting to look at the other, they turned around ad walked back the direction they came from.

"GAARA!" Naruto shouted out at the red head as he ran up to meet him.

"Gaara!" Naruto stopped just beside the said person who was currently staring at the flowing river underneath the bridge.

The blonde shinobi got frustrated and punched him, softly enough to not get him pissed off and to keep the sand at bay but hard enough to get himself noticed. "Dude! Stop ignoring me you bastard!"

"What do you want…Uzumaki…" he spoke passively, eyes not shifting to look at the loud mouth.

"If you're so sad about it-" Naruto began but got cut off by Gaara.

"I'm not sad."

"Ok, whatever then, go talk to her!"

"She won't talk to me."

"Well at least try!"

"I've already tried."

"Then try harder goddammit!"

Gaara sighed and chose not to say anymore. He felt that he might end up exploding and starting shouting back at him, but was determined to keep him composure. Naruto got annoyed at his demonic friend and not wanting to hurt him, he decided to leave.

"Whatever then, I'm leaving to find Hinata. Do whatever you want, but seriously. Just talk to her. She might not talk back but at least give it another go. She's always a good listener." Naruto smiled and waved at Gaara who refused to look at the blonde. "See you later then."

* * *

The Hyuuga prodigy felt the need to let go of some steam, what better to do that than perhaps look at the scenery. He began his way to the bridge, unaware that somebody already got there before him.

By the time he got there, the red head had already acknowledged his presence. Being friends before, he settle on leaning on the empty space opposite him.

"Hey…"

"Hey…"

Although it was a slightly awkward silence for them, they didn't mind much. They just stared at the smooth flow of the river beneath the bridge.

"Have you talked to her yet?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, I've tried and I bet you've tried too."

"Hinata-sama told me to try again."

"Uzumaki told me to do the same."

"Interesting pair they make."

"Hn…"

"Although we don't take orders from anyone…"

"We'll end up doing it anyway…"

"Hn…"

Neji smirked as he looked up into the sky, Gaara smirked while he continued to stare at the river.

'I'll try again…' they both thought in unison.

* * *

I'm so tired…why do I even bother?

Oh yeah…that's right…I haven't updated in a while…

Anyways…I can't believe this…I thought of a new idea…which is so bad because I'm getting distracted from this fic…which is so bad yeah?


	26. Vacation

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Good point…why isn't Gaara angry at Neji? I don't know…These fingers won't listen…I'm sorry…

Sigh…people are just so demanding these days…you know who you are…So fine, I admit that the last chapter was boring and it kinda sucks…and…and…what else? Not to mention it pretty much had nothing in it…You know who you are yet!

And also, I think Gaara calls Naruto 'Uzumaki' is because it's out of respect. I think you only call people by their first name when you know them better? I'm not quite sure, but yeah…

Or maybe it's because he got too used to calling him by his last name so yeah…

* * *

"I don't know what to do anymore, I'm just so lost. I thought ignoring them might help me, but it's making me feel worse…What can I do?" Sakura asked herself as she placed her hand to her forehead while the other ran through her bubble gum hair.

"Sakura, what is your heart telling you to do?" Haru asked her.

"I didn't know you were listening…" Sakura stared blankly at him.

"I just got back...so?"

"I don't know…" she spoke as she resumed her former position.

"Why don't you have a little think about it, while I go see the Hokage." He slowly bent over to pick up his bag and it got Sakura thinking about him.

"What for?"

"I'm due back in Mist, and Chiyako has to come along too."

"But…"

"I'm sorry Sakura, this came unexpectedly."

"But…" she was fighting back the tears that wanted to fall, she fought back a sob.

"I won't leave till tomorrow, but we can go out for dinner tonight." He smiled at her as he made his way out of the door.

"Wait!" she jumped up from her seat and held onto the door knob.

"Hm?"

"Can I come with you, please."

"I don't know about that. Is it what you really want?"

"It's what I need. I see them everyday, and it's breaking my heart."

"Sure, let's go see the Hokage then."

* * *

Gaara sat on top of the Hokage's monument, over looking the whole village, wondering why. Why he wasn't angry, why he didn't kill, why he didn't shout out all his pains and frustrations.

Why he was still friends with Neji…

"I don't get it…"

Was it because he didn't love her anymore? Was it because he didn't care anymore? Or was it because he didn't mind sharing?

He furrowed his brows together, in disappointment. He couldn't find the answers no matter how much he thought about it. He sighed in defeat and stared at the bleeding sun in the horizon. Normally he would come up here with Sakura, but times have changed, he has changed.

"I hate love…It's confusing me…"

* * *

"Are you ready Sakura?" Haru asked her as he pulled on his bag.

"I'm, ready…"

"Are you sure you want to do this Sakura?"

"I'm sure." She smiled sadly as she checked her pouch.

"You don't look ready."

"I'm ready and I'm sure. Don't worry, I probably just need to get away for a while."

"Ok…I'll go check on Chiyako."

"I'm ready!" Chiyako skipped happily as she ran into the room with her small bag.

"Great! Let's go Chiyako-chan." Sakura smiled as she patted on her head.

"Yay! Sakura-nee-chan is coming with us! Isn't that great Haru-nii-chan!" she didn't wait for an answer as she ran out of door.

"Get her before she runs off!" Sakura laughed as she grabbed her bag.

"Yeah, sure." He smiled back and walked out. Sakura followed and locked the door.

Haru didn't have to run to catch up to Chiyako since his stride was much bigger than hers. Sakura walked leisurely, not too fast and not too slow. It would've been better if it was a sunny day and she had nothing to do. Wait…it is a sunny day but she was leaving. Darn…

By the time they got to the Konoha gates, she turned around and took one last look around before deciding to leave for a vacation.

"See you guys next time…"

* * *

"Hey…" Naruto finally stuck his head up from his bowl of miso ramen.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" Hinata spoke timidly. She didn't stutter much anymore but she still spoke very softly and shyly.

"I have a bad feeling all of a sudden…"

"What's wrong Naruto-kun?" Hinata looked worried over to the blonde who placed his chopsticks down which started to make her grow concern.

"I don't know, but I do know that something's up, and I don't like it."

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?"

Naruto stared at Hinata with a determined look, making her grow red in the face. With a sudden gasp he ran off, leaving behind a bewildered Hinata.

"Naruto-kun!" she shouted out but it was still quiet.

'Something's not right, it's not right!' Naruto screamed out in his head and woke up the Kyuubi.

**"Boy, I'm trying to sleep here, quiet down…"**

'Shut the hell up, I know something's wrong.'

**"It's not any of my business, kit. Find out yourself."**

'I never asked for your freaking help anyway!'

Naruto continued to run, as fast as his legs could carry him before he stopped suddenly in front of the gates. He didn't know why he stopped there, but something told him to look around. He raised his head to the guards who stood on the top and shouted out. "Hey! Is anybody coming here?"

"No! Get lost kid!"

Talk about rude, it made Naruto more frustrated not knowing what was wrong. He then ran off to find the old hag.

* * *

"Here are your passes, don't worry. He's doing quite fine in Konoha." The blonde lady spoke to the other two sand-nins in her office as she gave them their visas.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." The other blonde spoke as she bowed down her head in respect and was about to take their visas from her when somebody stormed through the room.

"OLD HAG!"

"It's Hokage, you little brat!"

"SOMETHING'S WRONG!"

"What now Naruto? Out of ramen again?"

"Well, yeah but that's not it!" Naruto looked desperately at her while she sweat-dropped.

"You're interrupting us, kid…" Kankurou yawned while still sitting on his chair.

"What is it Naruto? Get it over and done with will ya?" Tsunade spoke as she picked up her cup full of warm sake.

"I don't know what it is, but something's missing." Naruto took a look at Temari and Kankurou but ignored them. "I thought something was coming or leaving, but it can't be those two." He spoke as he pointed at them.

"Well, Sakura did leave this morning, said something about going to Mist with Haru and that kid for a vacation." Tsunade took a sip from her cup as Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief.

"SHE WHAT! YOU'RE JOKING! TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING!" he grabbed his hair and pulled it hard.

"I'm afraid not, she looked pretty stressed."

"WHEN IS SHE COMING BACK?" Naruto shouted out as he jumped onto her table.

"Get off the table now you little brat, she might take a month or two but I wouldn't know."

"AH!" Naruto yelled out one more time before rushing out of the door in search of Gaara.

"What's his problem?" Kankurou asked Temari who just shrugged it off.

* * *

"GAARA! GAARA!" Gaara's head rose up at the mention of his name, more like the yelling of his name actually.

"GAARA!" the red head looked down at the village in search of the person who was shouting out his name.

"GAARA!" finally, he found the blonde jumping from one roof to another hands cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"GAARA!"

'He's so damn loud…' the sand-nin thought to himself as he commanded his sand to take him to where Naruto was.

* * *

"GAARA!" Naruto shouted out again as he jumped off another roof. People were staring at him, some in annoyance and some others in awe.

"What the hell is that kid doing!" one of the villages spoke.

"Damn, where is Gaara? Where's that stupid bastard."

"That stupid bastard is right behind you idiot…" Naruto turned around to find a very un-amused red head.

"Ah, there you are." Naruto smiled slightly as he watched Gaara cross his arms over his chest.

"What do you want Uzumaki…"

"Ano sa ano sa…do you know where Sakura-chan is?"

"No, she could be at home. Why were you shouting out my name instead of hers?"

"Well, um…let's go find Neji first." Gaara's eye slightly twitched when he said Neji's name.

"What for?"

"And then, Sasuke-baka." Gaara's face darkened considerably at the mention of his name.

"What…for?" he growled out.

"It's about Sakura-chan, and I would prefer to tell all three of you at once."

"What's wrong with Sakura?" he got worried because normally, Naruto wouldn't be so serious about this.

"Let's go find them first." The blonde shinobi was about to jump off when sand caught his ankle making him fall on his face.

"Geez, do that again and I'll kill you." Naruto muffled out as he held onto his pained face.

"Not if I kill you first. What's wrong with Sakura." He growled out before releasing Naruto's foot.

"She's not hurt, if that's what you're thinking. Let's go find the others first, THEN I'll tell you what's wrong."

Gaara was reluctant to wait for the other two but nodded anyway, then went after Naruto as he jumped off the roof and began running down the streets of Konoha.

* * *

"She what!" Sasuke busted out when he found out what Sakura did.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either." Naruto confirmed.

"Why would she leave?" Neji asked.

"I think it's because…"

"Because…" Gaara spoke as he stared blankly at Naruto.

"Because…?" they leaned in slightly to hear what he was about to say. "Because of you three."

"What?" Sasuke's eye began to twitch.

"You guys were giving her too much stress, that's what the old hag said anyway." Naruto shrugged.

"I'm going to find her." Sasuke resolved and left but not before Neji said the same thing, followed by Gaara.

"Then I'm going with all of you, I mean. What if someone needs to keep an eye of on you?" Naruto smiled as he received glares from all of them.

"I don't need you to look after me…" Neji spoke as he narrowed his eyes slightly at him.

"Me too…" Gaara spoke.

"I wasn't talking about you 'all'. I was talking about you as in Sasuke-baka…"

"What!" Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You heard me! What if you end up hurting her!"

"What about them?"

"They wouldn't even hurt a fly!" Naruto retaliated as Gaara and Neji sweat-dropped.

"Stupid!"

"Dead-last!"

"Smart-ass!"

"At least I'm not a dumb-ass!"

Oh joy…the world of insults…How wonderful…

* * *

That was slightly interesting…no?

Poor Naruto, being called stupid and all…I'm sorry to all Naruto fans and others! Forgive me!


	27. SHOCKING!

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

Ah, the sad confusion that Gaara is going through…don't worry. I'm confused too! Wahaahha!

And also, imagine that Gaara's got inexistent eyebrows…pretend they are soooo faint, you have to squint really hard to see them. Or just think that his kohl covered eyes are his eyebrows…get it? Or maybe his eyebrows are lost in the kohl outlines…uh…Yeah…

And oh…the endless reviews of demands…somebody gimme a break here…You know who you are…and at least it doesn't take me a week to update…ok maybe I did that once…But that was because of my little rabbit…sniff sniff…You made me cry…sniff sniff…

And yeah, I had the LONGEST review in my whole entire life! It makes writing so worth it! Thank you! Thank you!

* * *

"Neh, are we there yet?" Naruto asked as he carelessly jumped from one branch to another.

"I swear, if you ask that one more time…I'll kill you." Sasuke spoke out through gritted teeth.

"I'm afraid not, that's my job…" Gaara looked at the raven haired ninja with threatening eyes.

"You don't scare me."

"And I suppose that Sakura scares you more than me?"

"Buzz off."

"Make me…"

Both of them ended up glaring at each other throughout the entire journey, surprisingly not tripping up during that time. They stopped every once in a while due to Naruto's whining about needing to eat ramen or he'll die. Sasuke would've let him die if not for Neji and Gaara.

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan! Can you train with me today?" Chiyako asked as she swung her feet over the chair she sat on.

"Yeah, sure." Sakura smiled at her as she placed her cup into the sink. "Go get ready, I'll be out in a few minutes."

"Hai!"

'It's been nearly a week since I left Konoha, I wonder if they've noticed. Of course they would've noticed. But are they coming? Normally it would take four to five days to get here…" Sakura thought to herself as she idly washed her mug. 'I've only been here for two days already, maybe they'll turn up tomorrow.'

Suddenly she scoffed to herself. "Why would I want them to turn up tomorrow?" But even when she told herself that she didn't want them to all of a sudden appear at the door, she couldn't help but take a glimpse of the front door every once in a while.

"Perhaps you're expecting them to come take you back home?" Haru asked as he came in through the other kitchen door.

"Of course not, why would I want them to come take me home? That's just stupid. If I wanted to wait for them to take me home, then I should've just stayed home instead of coming here." Her scrubbing at the mug got faster the more she spoke.

"Maybe you're waiting for one of them to turn up."

"No…" Sakura looked down at the cup and smiled wryly at the cup, a bit of its patterns has gone missing. "Sorry, I ruined your cup."

"Nah, I've got another one just like that." Haru smiled at her.

"Sakura-nee-chan! It's been five minutes already!" Chiyako pouted her lips as she stuck her head through the door.

"It's been three minutes actually." Sakura cocked her head to the side as she finished off washing the cup. "I'm almost done."

"Who would take such a long time just to wash a cup…" she continued to pout as she went back out the door into the backyard.

"I really like your house Haru."

"Thanks." he flashed her one of those cocky smiles andwalked aroundthe room in search of something. "Hm? I thought I put it here…"

"If you're looking for ramen, I threw them out. It's so unhealthy…" Sakura smirked at him as she dried up the cup.

"YOU WHAT! Oh my precious ramen…"

Sakura's eye began to twitch at the dramatic scene faced before her. "They're so cheap, a little too cheap. What if they were poisoned!"

"I've eaten them all my life!"

"So has Naruto!" then she whispered out. "No wonder he's a little cookoo…"

"Sakura…how could you do this to me…" he started to sniff and cry dramatically.

"You're such a drama queen!" she scoffed at him and walked over to the cupboard to discard her cup. "Geez…you better be a little bit more respectful towards me after this…"

"My ramen…" he was now pounding on the floor making horrible fake sobs and sniffs.

"Come here…" she beckoned for him to come to her as she stood in front of one of the other cupboards.

"My precious ramen…Oh chicken…my ramen…"

Her eye began to twitch even more. "I said, come here…"

"My dear poor ramen, it must've been so horrible when you're face to face against the unbeatable wrath of Sakura…

"Come here, or else I'll throw out the rest of the ramen you're ever gonna buy again!"

He yelped and scrambled up towards her. Honestly, how pathetic is that…A hunter-nin taking orders from a girl who's only chounin.

"Since I didn't like the ramen you bought, I went to trade it for better brands of ramen which is chicken…" she spoke as she slowly opened up one of the cupboards behind her, his eyes began to twinkle and his hands clasped in front of him like a baby in front of a candy store. When she fully opened it, it was bare…

"Uh…Is this some kind of a joke…because it ain't funny." Haru pointed to its emptiness and Sakura turned to look into it.

"Opps! WRONG CUPBOARD!" she laughed and went over to the NEXT cupboard and opened fully, revealing heaven in Haru's eyes.

"Oh, so many ramen, precious, precious ramen! Oh my sweet little chicken…" he began caressing the ramen cup to his cheek while Sakura thought that 'Ok…ten on the weird scale of ten…'

"Sakura! I LOVE YOU! But I love ramen more than you!" he began to laugh almost maniacally.

"So you're saying, if I was captured and you had to trade me for the ramen, would you do it?"

"HELL NO! My ramen! Mine, mine, mine!" he laughed maniacally again which made Sakura step away from him, little by little.

'Man, I gotta get out of here, maybe staying in Konoha and having loads of stress is better than staying with someone who cared more about ramen than me…' she crept outside to where Chiyako was standing, with arms crossed and lips pouting.

"You're late, Sakura-nee-chan…"

"Ah, I have a reason!"

"Well?" Chiyako turned her head away from her, out of annoyance.

"Um, I was talking to Haru and he said he wouldn't trade his ramen to save my life."

"That was so lame!"

"But it's true!"

* * *

"Hey, is this it? I was expecting somewhere along the lines of…Lotsa mist…" Naruto spoke as he scratched his head.

"It's not always misty, dope…" Sasuke scoffed at him while he crossed his arms.

"Then why is it called the Hidden Village of Mist?" Naruto continued to ask.

"Because it just is, dope!"

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD ENOUGH ANSWER BAKA!"

"WELL SHUT UP ABOUT IT THEN!"

"I WANT MY ANSWER! I WANT MY ANSWER!"

"If you both don't shut up, I'll strangle you with my sand…" Gaara gave them the casual glare and walked off after Neji.

"Look who got off on the wrong side of the bed today…" Naruto snorted after seeing that stupid glare of his.

"He doesn't sleep dope…"

"Shut the hell up!"

"Make me!"

"DON'T MAKE ME COME BACK THERE AND GET YOU!" Gaara shouted out from a distance.

"Geez, talk about good hearing…" Naruto grunted and walked off to catch up to the others.

* * *

"Sakura-nee-chan, can we have ramen for dinner tonight?" Chiyako asked as she threw her shuriken at the pink haired shinobi.

"No, you can't have it every time you know…" she sighed as she moved her head to the right, easily dodging the shuriken thrown to her.

"But your ramen is so good! Pretty please with a…um…summoning scroll on top?" she begged while throwing a kunai to her.

She sighed before raising her hand to catch the kunai. "What flavor…"

"Yes! I want Miso, miso is so good!" she giggled as she jumped up and down from her spot.

'Great, just what I need, another Naruto/Haru in my life. What have you people done to her? She was such a sweet, innocent child before she got corrupted with the supposedly wonderful bliss of ramen…' Sakura thought to herself as she sighed once more. Not noticing a presence or two behind her.

"AH! I SEE RED, I SEE RED! RED, RED, RED!" Chiyako shouted out as she jumped up and down from her spot, this time in fear.

"What are you on about?"

"I SEE RED BEHIND SAKURA-NEE-CHAN! RED, RED, RED!"

"Red?" she spoke to herself as she slowly took a glimpse behind her, holding onto the kunai that Chiyako threw to her just minutes before. And indeed she did see red.

"Ah! Red, red, red!" she shouted out while throwing the kunai to the red thing as well as a few shurikens from her pouch and a few more kunais.

"AH! FREAKY WHITE EYES! FREAKY WHITE EYES!" Chiyako screamed out as she continued to jump up and down from her spot.

"Ah! Freaky white eyes! Freaky white eyes!" Sakura shouted out after her and threw more shurikens and kunais at the 'freaky white eyes'.

"AH! RED EYES! FREAKY RED EYES!" Chiyako continued to scream out of fear still jumping up and down on the same spot.

"Red eyes! Freaky red eyes!" she was out of shurikens and kunais already, and started to rely on her kicks and punches to help her get away from the 'freaky red eyes'.

"Ah! Hi Naruto!" Chiyako stopped jumping and waved happily at the blonde.

"Ah! Naruto!" she stopped punching the 'freaky red eyes' which turned out to be Sasuke. The 'freaky white eyes' was Neji and the 'red, red, red' was Gaara. Both of them were pretty much pinned to a tree behind them, cold sweat sliding down their faces.

"Ah, ehehe…um…sorry… I didn't know. I um…sorry?" she laughed nervously as she slowly backed away from them holding up her hands in defense.

'She's scary when she's angry, but she's even worse when she's scared…' Sasuke, Gaara and Neji thought to themselves as Naruto continued to wave happily at Chiyako.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sakura asked them as she picked up a few stray kunais and shurikens.

"We're here for you…" Sasuke replied while Naruto was talking to the kid very animatedly about what flavor ramen is the best.

"What for." She placed the kunais into her pouch and the shurikens into the compartment on her leg.

"Because you left without telling us." Neji bent over and picked up a kunai for her while Naruto and Chiyako's chat turned into a debate about 'Raku Raku Ramen' being better than 'Ichiraku Ramen'.

"You were giving me too much stress, it got out of hand." She looked at the kunai offered to her by Neji before taking it.

"We're sorry, we didn't mean for it to go that far." This time it was Gaara who spoke as Chiyako kicked Naruto on his shin and ran off into the house while Naruto grumpily rubbed his poor leg and limped after Chiyako.

"Well, too bad because it did." Sakura spoke out in a crabby manner.

"But, I need you." Sasuke and Neji begged as they held out his arms for her.

"You don't need me. It's not like you're gonna beg on your knees and scream out with the words 'I need you'." She was starting to get a little too emotional now. Turning her head away and closing her eyes as Gaara walked up to her.

Then all of a sudden, he did the unexpected, Gaara fell down to his knees in front of Sakura and held onto her waist, burying his head into her stomach.

"Sakura, I need you!"

* * *

Wow! That was so interesting, it even astounds me! My fingers were like crazy when I was typing! It's as if it's got a mind of it's own! Talk about freaky here! Seriously! 


	28. Silent Promise to the Rain

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

I missed out on a little bit for last chapter so please read the 'Previously' thingy so you can get what I mean…But damn! Even this story made me cry a bit! Talk about emotional here…

* * *

**Previously…Please read…**

_"But, I need you." Sasuke and Neji begged as they held out his arms for her._

_"You don't need me. It's not like you're gonna beg on your knees and scream out with the words 'I need you." She was starting to get a little too emotional now. She turned her head away and closed her eyes as Gaara dropped his gourd and walked up to her._

_Then all of a sudden, he did the unexpected, Gaara fell down to his knees in front of Sakura and held onto her waist, burying his head into her stomach._

_"Sakura, I need you!"

* * *

_

Sasuke and Neji's eyes grew wide in disbelief and screamed out in their heads, 'Dammit!' Sakura's eyes shot open as she stared right in front of her, not daring to believe what Gaara was doing. The red head continued to shout out the muffled words into her dress, his hold on her growing tighter by the second but not tight enough to suffocate her.

"Sakura, I need you. I need you so much. Please don't leave me!"

"Gaara, please let go…" she whispered out, still not wanting to look at him.

"Please, you've introduced me to so many feelings and emotions. I'll be so lost without you!"

"Please, just let me go." Little by little, she tried to loosen his hold on her.

"I can't, I'll die without you!" the sky began to grow dark and the clouds, heavy with rain began to pour down on them. Sasuke and Neji decided to leave them alone.

"Gaara, you're making this hard for both of us…" tears started to build up in her eyes, and she had no more strength to hold them back, slowly lowering herself to see him face to face.

"I don't want to let you go, please, don't make me let you go." For the first time in his whole entire life, he let himself be completely vulnerable to her, for her. He saw the tears that slid down her face, making trails down her cheeks.

She raised her hand to his cheek and with her last whispered words to him she said, "I'm sorry, I can't be with you…" She stifled back a sob before getting up and running into the house, leaving behind an upset sand-nin.

* * *

Silently he cried in the rain, unwilling to seek shelter, unwilling to move. He lost his motivation to live, in losing Sakura, he lost everything else. Everything that was precious to him was no more. She was the only person that meant so much to him. She was the light in his dark life, his angel. His everything, his precious person.

"I'll still protect you, no matter what." He murmured out, it was a silent promise to himself, to watch over her, to keep her from harm and save her from danger.

He was determined to make everything right again, he resolved to make it his goal to be her guardian and protect her at all costs.

"I will protect you no matter what, I promise."

* * *

Sobs and sniffles could be heard from the room upstairs, it could be heard even with the pouring rain outside. Haru felt uncomfortable, knowing how heartbroken she must be. Quietly, he sat on the kitchen chair, looking into his cup of green tea while Chiyako busied herself with drawing, not wanting to cry, so she could stay strong for Sakura. Surprisingly, Naruto stayed still and silent on the living room couch but felt uneasy so decided to stare at Neji and Sasuke, back and forth. Neji and Sasuke leaned on opposite walls facing each other, eyes closed contemplating about the current situation.

And as for Gaara, he remained outside, soaked in the rain. He could get sick, but he didn't care, he was gonna stay outside until Sakura felt better. Until Sakura stopped crying, until the rain stopped pouring. His knees still on the grass, his hair matted to his face, rain dripping from the point of his nose and hair. Gaara held onto his thighs and stared at the grass that seem to jerk abruptly due to the rain. His determination unwavering as the rain got heavier and the clouds grew darker. He was cold, but he didn't care, he was almost numb anyway.

Haru stared at his wet form as he got up from his seat. Slowly he walked over to the door that led to his backyard and spoke to him. "You better come in, it's gonna turn into a rain storm soon."

"No…" his misty breath coming from his mouth, so soft you have to strain really hard to hear it.

"I'll make you some tea, just come on it, alright?"

This time, Gaara shook his head, realizing no matter how hard he tried he wouldn't be heard, but he was too tired to speak anyway. Haru sighed at his stubbornness before retreating back to his tea.

* * *

After perhaps an hour, Sakura finally came out of her room but not without puffy, red eyes.

"Look who's got the freaky red eyes now?" Sasuke smirked at her as she returned it with a small smile of her own. She took a look around and saw Neji and Sasuke leaning on the wall while Naruto was sitting on the couch. She saw Chiyako and Haru in the kitchen but couldn't locate the red head. "Um…Where's Gaara?"

"He's still outside. He wouldn't come in when I asked him to." Haru replied as he took a sip from his cup.

"Why didn't you drag him in then?"

"He was too stubborn for his own good…"

She sighed before going over to the cupboards down the hallway by the bathroom. She took out two towels for him and walked over to the kitchen door that connected to the backyard. When she saw him, she felt even more heartbroken, to see him so useless in a way. She clutched onto the towels before taking a deep breath and walking out of the door and into the rain. She opened up one of the towels and draped it over his back.

Noticing something warm on his back, he turned to the source and came face to face with Sakura. "Sa-Sakura…"

"Please come inside, I don't want you to get sick." She smiled gently at him while holding out the other towel for him which he gratefully took.

"I won't come in if you don't want me to…"

She sighed and then held onto his arm, helping him get up from his kneeling position. "I want you to come in, and I don't want you to get sick, alright?" she offered him another smile although a bit of a sad one. He saw this and couldn't help but feel guilty, all the vibrant shine in her smile was gone, all because of him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" he tried to reason but got cut off by her.

"It's ok, let's just forget about it. Come on, before we both get sick." She cocked her head to the door and still slightly holding onto his shirt, she partly dragged him inside.

* * *

"Ano sa, ano sa…you're dripping wet…" Naruto spoke as he pointed at them.

"Thanks for stating the obvious Naruto…" Sakura spoke as she went to get another towel for herself.

"You're welcome." he smiled and went back to staring at Neji and Sasuke, back and forth. She sweat-dropped at his…stupidity…

"The bathroom is over there." She looked at the red head as she pointed over to the bathroom.

"You use it first." He spoke as he dried himself.

"No it's ok, I just need to change out of these clothes then I'll be fine, but you're soaking wet, so get in." he found himself slowly nodding before getting pushed in by her. She smiled before closing the door for him. Sakura sighed to herself before going up the stairs to change out of her wet clothes.

He looked around the bathroom before realizing he didn't bring any extra clothes. "Damn…" He went over to the door and opened it slightly. "Um, I didn't bring any clothes with me."

Haru looked over to where Gaara was and smiled. "What do you mean? You didn't pack anything with you?" the sand-nin nodded to him.

"It's ok, I'll let you borrow some of mine." Haru spoke as he got up from his seat and up the stairs to him room, it wasn't until a few minutes later he came back down with a set of clothes for him.

"Uh…it's exactly like yours." Gaara sweat-dropped as he looked at the bundle of clothes given to him.

"I know, isn't it cool? It's the only style of clothing that fits me so we can be like brothers or something!" Haru laughed to himself as he saw the reaction on Gaara's face.

'You gotta be joking me…I'm already a brother to a ramen eating demon…now I have to be a brother to a guy with no sense of style?' he sighed to himself before retreating back into the bathroom.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

* * *

"Ano sa, ano sa…Can I do that too?" Naruto smiled playfully at Haru before getting off his seat over to him.

"Sure!" Haru laughed as he went over to his room one more time. "I've got a cupboard full of these!"

"Hah! Me too! Of my own clothes of course!" he grabbed the clothes from Haru while Neji and Sasuke were in the living room thinking the exact same thing. 'These are the only clothes I have in my cupboard…' they sweat-dropped.

By the time Sakura came out of her own room and down the stairs, she found three people with the same clothing "Woah…", although Naruto was fine with the new change of clothes, she found the look of Gaara's face a little funny, he looked absolutely irritated by it.

Gaara kept on exchanging nervous glances with her as she cooked ramen for them, while Chiyako, Haru and Naruto chatted happily about the various types of ramen and how miso is better than any of them. Of course, it eventually turned into a debate between Haru with Chiyako and Naruto about how miso is better than chicken and vice versa, then shifting over to how Raku Raku Ramen is not as good as Ichiraku Ramen, commented by Naruto…and it obviously earned himself a kick on each shin by both Haru and Chiyako.

While…Naruto is limping around trying to pull a punch to the mist-nin and how he was trying to catch the little twerp, Neji and Sasuke just glared at each other.

"Ramen!" Sakura called out from the kitchen as she set down seven bowls of miso flavored ramen (requested by Chiyako earlier) on to the table. Naruto, Haru and Chiyako cheerfully slurped away as Sakura watched them with a hint of both shock and joy.

'What's with ramen? It's like they're gonna die without a daily dose of it…' Sakura thought to herself as she dug into her own bowl. Although, the rest didn't like ramen as much as the three, they didn't mind it if they ate it occasionally, not everyday until you get so sick of it, you wanna throw up every time you see even the slightest hint of ramen.

* * *

"Thank you for the food!" Naruto rubbed contentedly at his tummy and smiled like a child who had it's fill of candy.

"Me too! Thank you for the food!" Chiyako giggled as she set down her chopsticks on her bowl.

"I agree, thanks Sakura." Haru smiled at Sakura while the others nodded their appreciation.

"You're welcome, Chiyako, can you help me with the dishes?" Sakura asked as she gathered up al the bowls and chopsticks.

"Hai!"

"I can do it." Gaara offered as he got up from his seat.

"Um…you don't have to." She slightly panicked.

"I insist."

"Ok." She smiled while dumping the bowls and utensils into the sink and washing them.

* * *

Sakura absently washed the dishes while Gaara wiped them dry and placed them in their designated cupboards and drawers. During that time, they didn't exchange a word to each other, but occasionally brushing past his hands when she handed over the washed bowl to Gaara. She blushed whenever that happened. Once they were done, they went over to the living room to find a messenger from Konoha.

"Um, am I missing something here?" Sakura asked while staring at the ninja known as Gin.

"The back-up team you requested back in Sound is in need of help, Hokage-sama asked me to give you this mission." Gin told them as he handed the scroll of details over to them. "She also said that Haru and Sakura may come along."

"I can't go, I have to look after Chiyako. She got really angry the last time I left her alone." Haru told them as he smiled.

"I can go." Sakura confirmed as she got looks of worry from Naruto and the rest. "I can do it, seriously. I'm not the Sakura you once knew alright!"

"We didn't say that you couldn't do it." Naruto tried to defend himself.

"Yeah? But I could tell from the looks on your faces!" Sakura shouted out as she stomped up to her room to pack up. Naruto sighed before Neji asked, "When shall we leave?"

Gin replied with, "The sooner, the better. They might not hold out much longer."

"But Mist is a long way away from Sound, even furtherer than Konoha." Naruto spoke as he continued to look at the stairs that Sakura went up just seconds ago.

"We can get there in four days, give or take." Neji analyzed as he stared at the scroll.

"Thank you." Gin bowed and walked out of the door and ran out of sight.

"Do you think we can make it in four days?" Naruto asked as he stared at Neji unbelievingly.

"Give or take." Neji confirmed as he rolled up the scroll. "We'll leave either tonight or tomorrow morning."

"We'll leave right now." Sakura spoke as she came back down the stairs with her bag in tow.

"Sure you wanna do that?" Sasuke asked her.

"Positive."

* * *

You know how they always wear the same thing everyday? They must have like a drawer full of the same clothing! Wahahaha!

The end is coming…why? Because I got too many ideas stuck in my head and I really need to get it out…So be expecting something new soon. But then I also have to finish my other uncompleted fic…

OH DAMN!


	29. Cherry Blossoms

Torn between her first crush and the two people who taught her so much… 

Hyuuga Neji…

Sabaku no Gaara…

Uchiha Sasuke…

* * *

The end is coming…Ahem, I don't quite agree with the longer it takes the better but I'll try neh.

**>Runs away from Gaara** - Hey! I'm writing this! And I'm keeping you partly in character!  
**>Gaara chases Jyo-Chan** - PARTLY! You're joking! I'm way off character!  
**>Still running** - I'll get you for this Hao'sAnjul!  
**>Hao'sAnjul laughing in the distance…

* * *

**

'Yeah, we made it in like four days sure, but we were already pretty much out of it by the time we arrived.' Sakura panted as she grabbed onto her knees for support. She looked over at Naruto and Gaara, she could understand why they weren't as tired as the rest. 'Lucky demons…'

She forced herself up, according to what Neji said, "These are the stronger forces now, Orochimaru must be getting desperate to get rid of us." They must have been lower level ninjas when they fought Sound last time.

Sure the forces of Sound were slowly diminishing, but what they need is to get rid of Orochimaru, so they could get rid of the whole nation. Once the last ninja of that area was killed, they tried to formulate a plan.

They decided to use Sasuke as bait to get Orochimaru out and Gaara to kill him off, while Naruto distracted Kabuto to prevent him from healing the legendary snake-user.

While the next wave came closer, they carried out their plans, leaving Sasuke in the central while Gaara and Naruto were close enough to help if he gets in trouble with Orochimaru.

"Sasuke-kun, how nice to see you again. I apologize for not coming out to meet you last time." Orochimaru purred at him. Sasuke's eyes flared Sharing an as Orochimaru came closer. The Uchiha prodigy drew out his kunai and shuriken.

"I'm hurt Sasuke-kun, why would you want to hurt me when I've offered you power?" Orochimaru stopped and faked sadness, Sasuke winced at the sudden pain on his neck. "You know you want it, in order to kill your brother, embrace it…" he held out his arms for Sasuke.

He dropped his weapons and lowered his head, as if to succumb to the darkness. In the distance, Naruto shouted out, "SASUKE!" Realizing what was happening, he dropped his position and ran off to stop anything bad from happening but Kabuto stopped him. "Just where are you going, Naruto-kun?" The blonde cursed at himself before shouted out to Gaara who ran off in Sasuke's direction.

"What shall we play today, Naruto-kun."

"How about I kick your ass." Naruto growled at him.

"And I'll kick yours." Kabuto smiled.

"Gay bastard…"

* * *

While Naruto was busy with Kabuto, Gaara made his way over to Sasuke and stopped just in front of him. "Come any closer and I'll kill you."

"I guess you wanna kill me for killing your father, hm Gaara-kun?" Orochimaru held his chin up high as if to mock them.

"No, I thank you for killing him, I'm just sad I didn't get the chance of killing him myself, but then again. It's one less problem I have to deal with." Gaara sneered back as he commanded his sand to lunge at him. Orochimaru easily dodged it but continued to stare at Sasuke. 'My prize…'

"Gaara…I have an idea…it's sick, but it'll work." Sasuke whispered out so that only the red head can hear. "Keep him distracted alright?"

"Yeah, whatever, just tell me the plan."

* * *

Orochimaru kept a constant eye on Sasuke, watching his prize fight back for the right to have power.

"Sasuke! What the hell are you doing!" Gaara shouted out as he tried to evade a slash from Sasuke's kunai. "This isn't part of the freaking plan!"

"I don't care, I want power, I need power to get rid of my brother. I will have my power!" Orochimaru couldn't help but smile sadistically at his prize. 'Yes, Sasuke-kun. Fight for me, fight for power.'

He took a glimpse at Kabuto and the Kyuubi, he was faring well considering that he was up against a demon holder, but lucky for his good medical skills he was able to survive this far, if not for them, he would've died already.

Sasuke summoned up his chakra to deliver the final blow to Gaara, blue threads of chakra could be seen coming from his hand as he readied himself for the Chidori. Gaara realized that Sasuke will be able to penetrate his ultimate defense but it would still be able to absorb much of the impact. He summoned up his sand to surround him as Sasuke charged forward with his Chidori in tow, the sound of a thousand birds emanating from his hand.

The Chidori made hard impact with his ultimate defense and cracking through it to Gaara forcing him out of his sand dome and rolling back on the floor with a hard thud, sand and dust encircled them, blocking Orochimaru's view of the fight. The only one left standing was Sasuke himself, panting hard. Naruto shouted out from the distance, "GAARA!"

* * *

"GAARA!" that scream came from Naruto, that scream that she has never heard before, with such fear and despair, she got distracted and stared in horror from where that scream came from.

'Gaara!' she searched around desperately for him, forgetting that she was in a fight with a Sound-nin. She looked on the ground and found a bleeding and unconscious sand-nin.

"Gaara!" she tried to run to him, but she got pulled back by her opponent.

"You have no time for your team-mates girl." He spoke as he continued to pull on her hair. She began to cry as she fell to her knees and watched Gaara in the distance.

'I'm still weak, I can't believe I'm still weak…so useless…'

* * *

'Yes Sasuke-kun, fight for me and fight for power.'

Once he felt that Gaara is no longer a nuisance to him, he walked up slowly to the snake-user. "You better give me power."

"Of course Sasuke-kun, I never lie." Sasuke remained quiet as Orochimaru raised his arms.

"You know you want it…" he saw the look on his face, filled with disgust and the need for power. He never took his eyes away from him, even when he heard the screams of his apprentice.

"SASUKE!" Naruto shouted out but with one look from Orochimaru, he was paralyzed beyond belief, unable to do anything but watch as Sasuke come forth in the embrace.

Just a few more inches to the embrace, Naruto forced himself to shout out something that might get his attention, "SAKURA!"

Sasuke turned to find Sakura kneeling on the floor with her back turned to her opponent who was smiling unpleasantly at the weak girl, his hold on her hair growing stronger. He saw the look on her face, so filled with pain and sadness.

"Sakura!" he activated his Sharingan and ran off to help Sakura but Orochimaru intercepted. "If you want power, and if you want me to give you that power, then I want everything from you. And I don't want you to have stupid little distractions!" Sasuke stood and stared in horror as he watched Orochimaru kill his own troop and came forward to Sakura, she gaped at the sennin as he came closer and closer to her.

He stopped just in front of her and called on his Sword of Kusunaga. He had this smile of menace on his face and satisfaction when he saw the look of fear from her eyes. He brought it down and blood smeared all over her face and clothes. But he never expected it to hit somebody else other than the girl.

'What?'

It was Gaara who took the blow for Sakura, the blade was hacked into his shoulder and a look of pain crossed his features. The sand-nin winced before using his other hand to hold Orochimaru and the sword in place. Out of the corner of his eye, Orochimaru saw Sasuke run up to him and took hold of his body.

"What!" Orochimaru gasped in dismay as Sasuke smirked at him before turning into a sand clone, wrapping itself around Orochimaru's body, making it impossible to get out of, soon Gaara raised his hand and used his technique. "Sabaku Sou Sou!" he clamped down his fingers and the blood of Orochimaru flew everywhere. The technique that held Naruto in place was let go off and Gaara's 'other' body disappeared in a puff of smoke revealing Sasuke instead. Neji went over to check up on Sasuke while Naruto watched Gaara and Sakura.

"Gaara…" finally out of her stupor to stare in awe at him. "Why did you do it?"

He coughed up blood before replying, "I swore that I'd protect you…even if you didn't love me back…"

"I DIDN'T NEED YOU TO PROTECT ME!" she shouted out as tears slid down her cheeks, overflowing emotions of sadness and pain on her face. It was starting to rain again, just like before.

He was unable to hold himself up any longer, but Sakura held onto him before he fell. He gazed at her with fading eyes, and his gaze shifted to the crying sky. 'It's always raining when she cries…'

"I don't want you to die…" she sniffed as she watched his features change, to one of pain to almost happiness. He lifted his bloodied hand to her cheek trying to smear away her tears but blood replaced them, and with his last spoken words before drifting into a state of comatose he whispered out his last words.

"I love you, my Sakura…"

* * *

Ever since Gaara was admitted to hospital, her life has been nothing but an emotional blur. Every morning she would wake up with red and swollen eyes because she had cried the night before. And every night she would cry herself off to sleep.

She was a wreck.

She used to be pretty and strong. She couldn't be bothered making herself look pretty anymore. Not even for the sake of looking good in front of her beloved Gaara, since he was in a lifeless, sleeping state. She guessed that he overused the Shukaku this time around.

Sometimes she would be seen walking aimlessly around the village with the neutral face and nothing more or less. Ino would always try to make her smile but always failed. Lee would attempt to make her happy too but like Ino, he was unable to make her smile. As much as Naruto hated her punching him on the head, he hated to see her miserable even more. Sasuke tried to make her smile, as well as Neji.

How long has it been since she last saw Gaara? A week maybe? Two…? It's actually been almost a month since. She tried not to cry every time she went to see him, but she always brought a bunch of flowers for him.

Everybody she knew came to visit him, all her friends and his friends. Ino didn't really know Gaara that well, but she came to support her friend.

It wasn't that weird though…when Sasuke and Neji came even though he they had fought countless of times. Perhaps out of respect then, Naruto came too. It was surprising how the next day she would find Haru and Chiyako at her doorsteps, she would've shouted out with glee if not for her depressed state.

She's not alone.

Come to think of it, she hasn't spoken a word since their departure. Not a single sound apart from sobs. Tsunade would still let her team do missions. Simple missions that require very little thinking and effort. It belittled her ability but then again she didn't mind. She didn't care anymore.

She still lives in the house alone. It was slightly dusty since the only room she ever really uses is her own and the bathroom. She hardly ever eats anymore due to depression.

Most people pig out when they're depressed but she doesn't. She just sits in her room and cries herself to sleep.

On the days when they meet up for training, Kakashi-sensei would sometimes let her stay and watch. Maybe let her spar with Naruto or himself, sometimes even with Sasuke. Sometimes Neji would stop by and check on her. Sometimes he would let her go home or give her a break from training. She's had so many breaks already, she was getting weaker and weaker.

One day, she was holding onto a bouquet of daffodils to wish him good health and such. The more the better. She slowly trudged into the hospital, smiling slightly when she signed herself in to check up on Gaara, but the nurse stopped her before she got far.

"Ah sorry miss, but I'm afraid that this patient is no longer in."

"What do you mean?" starting to fear for the worse. 'Don't tell me he's head, he can't be dead.'

"Hm, he got signed off perhaps two hours ago."

"Where did he go? Who signed him out? Did you see which way he went?" Sakura asked her but left before the nurse got to saw anything.

She ran down the streets, holding onto her bouquet tightly but stopped in front of Ichiraku Ramen.

"NARUTO! WHERE'S GAARA!"

"Ano? Uh…isn't he in the hospital?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head.

"He's not there! Somebody signed him out. I don't know where to go!" she was almost in tears now.

"Hey, don't cry. Ano…Ok, maybe he's walking somewhere, um…try the training fields ok?" Naruto used his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and ran off in separate directions. "Thanks Naruto."

"No problem." Naruto smiled before running off. She did as she was told, dumping behind the daffodils since they were nothing but a nuisance and they were already wilting in her hands. She ran to every training field she knew and every one she knew Gaara used to train in.

'He's not here!' she ran into the field but not seeing anything remotely red, she began to panic. 'One more field left, please be there, please be there!' she begged to herself.

Sakura ran through the think foliage of Konoha, finding the best and fastest way to the last field, by the time she got there, her hair was a mess. She jumped into the clearing and saw something in the middle. Curious, she slowly walked up to it. It was a bouquet of cherry blossoms. She turned around, hoping to find Gaara but saw nothing but green.

She turned back to the bouquet and silently gathered it in her arms, she noticed a small card drop out of the bunch and onto the grass. She picked it and read it.

I love you, my Sakura.

'Gaara?' she thought she heard his voice when she read it but when she read it again, there was no voice. She looked up at the sky and wished that Gaara was there, beside her. His voice, so close yet so far. Then she heard it again.

"I love you, my Sakura." Eyes wide she turned around to meet him face to face.

"Gaara?" she questioned herself whether he was real or not, she didn't want to end up crying again. He nodded as she raised her hand to his cheek, she could feel the warmth, his warmth. She saw his 'love' tattoo on his forehead, the fatigue rings around his eyes, his red hair and greens orbs. "Gaara?" tears of happiness watered her eyes as a smile touched her lips. "I've missed you so much." She swung her arms around his neck and held him in a tight embrace which he returned.

"I'm sorry I've made you wait." He whispered into her ear as she shed tears of happiness.

"As long as you're back, then all is forgiven." He closed his eyes as he gently let her go. He gazed into her eyes, filled with love and longing, sadness and happiness all at once. "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled at him as he leaned in for a kiss.

'Forever.'

* * *

Naruto sure is shouting a lot ain't he? Thank you for all your support! I enjoy writing out this fic for all of you people! Please check out the others eh? Long chapter…I was aiming for thirty chapters…but oh wells…I decided to make this long…Hehee!

I'm sorry if some of you guys were hoping for a Sasuke and Sakura or a Neji and Sakura fic but I guessed, it turned out differently than to what I expected. Eehehe…

Please read and review! Sweet, cheers all! Damn...had a stupid spelling mistake there...but all fixed! I think...


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